


ATLOP: Lessons in Water

by WardofWinters (QoLife)



Series: To Make a Legend [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: BAMF Percy, Clever Percy, Follows Canon, Frustrated Everyone, How to anger all the sea Gods in one easy step, Me explaining to canon what realistic reactions are, Merman!Percy, Pagan!Percy, Rip Luke he shouldn't have done that, Smart Percy, Smart!Percy, Triton (Percy Jackson) is a Good Sibling, Undersea Lore, Undersea Politics, Updates on Mondays, canon is a guideline, i'll update tags as needed, more characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, waterbender percy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 57,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QoLife/pseuds/WardofWinters
Summary: Percy survived his first year at Camp Half-Blood, and made many friends along the way, even if one tried to kill him.Now he gets to brave the realities of undersea politics, handle a custody dispute, and deal with land school all at the same time. Camp's barriers weakening after the winter solstice and a new activities director being pulled in did not make his summer session any calmer.Why can't he just have one normal year on land? Makes him wish for Kym's storm-making lessons.SEQUEL TO: ATLOP: Trial by Fire (must read that first to have any idea what's going on)
Series: To Make a Legend [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932946
Comments: 954
Kudos: 1127
Collections: Storycatchers' Stories of the sea





	1. To Sea the Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy the second book! We'll be starting off at camp :D
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: @Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/6Pf8JgJ

**Dionysus POV**

Well, this is just a lovely day.

The sun is shining, the strawberries are growing, and two of the kids vanished from the camp one after the other.

Love that.

I sighed, takin a gulp of my Diet Coke.

The messenger came earlier saying that the Jackson boy had been attacked by a Pit Scorpion. They don’t know who did it, but I can make a wild guess based on the other missing kid.

I knew that the Luke kid was angry, he’s been angry for a while, but for him to try to kill a camper?

I didn’t see that coming.

“Mr. D your drink is on fire,” Chiron said helpfully.

I blinked, so it is.

I waved my hand, dismissing the drink.

“Um…” I sighed, turning to the door.

Annabeth Chase stood there, her jaw clenched, and her eyes filled with worry.

“Where’s Percy?”

Oh boy.

“Ah, Annabeth-“ Chiron faltered at her look.

“I saw the guy that came from the sea, he went through Percy’s cabin. I can’t find Percy anywhere. Why was he here? Where’s Percy?”

I sipped my Diet Coke. I’m just glad we don’t have to tell her he’s dead. I always hate informing the kids that one of their friends died.

“Annabeth,” Chiron started again.

“He’s in the ocean,” I drawled.

She frowned, “Why?”

I sighed, “He had an unfortunate meeting with a Pit Scorpion, almost died, used some emergency magic thing, and is now in the sea. Oh, and that Luka Campbell boy left the camp, probably after trying to kill the Jackson kid.”

The girl recoiled, “What!?”

Chiron sighed, “We don’t know that Luke did it. He left yes, but… he wouldn’t’ve… he would never hurt one of the campers.”

Annabeth nodded, a fiercely defensive look on her face, “Luke would never! He… he was angry yeah, but he wouldn’t hurt Percy. He wouldn’t betray me- the camp like that.”

I studied her. Honestly, I pity her. She dearly loves that boy, he’s her older brother, and she definitely has one of those little mortal crushes on him. His betrayal will hurt her greatly, once she accepts it.

“We’re waiting for confirmation when the Jackson boy wakes up,” I waved my hand, leaning back in my seat. “Your family is here though, so you’ll have to go. Unless you wish to stay to wait for news.”

She hesitated, “I… I want to know what happened. When will he wake up?”

Chiron winced, “Ah, Pit Scorpion venom… honestly it’s a miracle that he’s expected to survive at all. We have no way of knowing when he’ll wake.”

She bit her lip, “I’ll stay. I want to know what happened…”

I shrugged, poor girl is in denial. “Do whatever.”

She huffed and left. Marching out with a determined stride.

“Mr. D, you need to be more gentle with them,” Chiron lectured.

I rolled my eyes, being gentle gets them killed.

“Besides,” he continued. “We don’t know that it was Luke. He would never do that!”

They’re all in denial. Heroes change sides all the time, and that boy has been angry for a long time. I’m not sure who he joined, but it’s not someone on our side.

I sighed, guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Annabeth POV**

I hurried away from the Big House, keeping my expression steady.

Luke wouldn’t, he couldn’t, he would never… I know he’s been angry, but he wouldn’t betray us! He wouldn’t try to kill Percy!

I swallowed, he wouldn’t.

I’ll Iris Message him now and prove it. He’ll answer and explain where he is and what happened and it’ll all be fine.

I hurried to the prism’s hanging at the back of the big house, there for easy Iris Messages.

I took a breath and pulled out a drachma.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

I tossed a drachma in and waited expectantly.

The rainbow shimmered for a moment, then suddenly spat the drachma back out.

_That person is not available, please try again later._

No, must be some sort of error. Luke’s just slightly out of range maybe, or maybe Iris is just on break.

I threw the drachma in again.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

_That person is not available, please try again later._

I gritted my teeth. No.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

_That person is not available, please try again later._

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

_That person is not available, please try again later._

Why?!

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

_That person is not available, please try again later._

I took a shaky breath, this can’t be happening.

Please.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

_That person is not available, please try again later._

I slowly sank down against the big house wall.

Luke wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do it. He would never hurt a camper. He would never leave me.

He promised.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

My dad reluctantly understood that I needed to stay. His wife wasn’t happy about coming all this way to be told I wasn’t leaving, but I don’t care what she thinks.

I only decided to try again because Percy said maybe my dad didn’t know. I’m giving him a chance, not her.

But Percy and Luke are far more important then my dad and his wife. I’m not leaving till I know what happened.

It resulted in a lot of pacing.

Malcolm told me at least a dozen times to sit down, but I just can’t.

I itched to do something, but there was nothing to do but wait and it’s killing me. Is Percy okay? What happened with Luke? I just want answers.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

It was three days before someone came again. Another figure rising from the water, dressed similarly and wearing those same bands around his arms.

He swept through the camp, side-stepping anyone that tried to get in his way, and entered the big house.

I straightened, I’m going to find out what’s happening.

Time to practice a little spying.

I put my hat on and snuck to the big house.

I had to step carefully so no boards creaked, but I managed to slip in and hide by the door.

The water guy settled in a seat across from Mr. D.

“Well?” Mr. D asked in his usual drawl. “Who tried to kill the little sea prince.”

The guy sighed, “It was a boy named Luke. He tried to get Percy-aia to join him and his Lord, though his Lord was not named Percy-aia believes it to be the Time Lord. Percy-aia refused and this Luke summoned a Pit Scorpion.”

I froze, no, he… Luke…

I swallowed, trying to focus on what they were saying.

“-he’ll be on bed rest for another day or two, he was unconscious for over a day, and will have to do some physical therapy to recover from the poison. Thankfully ert Aipri is rather skilled at purification magic and was able to fight off the venom long enough for Maiava-futao to administer the antidote. Truly we were lucky she had some on hand or else he would not have survived regardless.”

Mr. D sighed, “So the godling will be returning to camp? He hasn’t filled out his form, but I’ll make an exception this one time on account of him almost being murdered.”

I shifted, is Percy coming back?

“Percy-aia will not be returning at this time. Poseidon-ore has decreed that he will be staying in the sea until he has fully recovered. He may return to the camp next summer, but not sooner.”

Mr. D hummed, “Well, good to hear the brat will live. It’d be troublesome to fill out the paperwork for his death.”

My jaw clenched but I forced myself to breathe out. Percy will live, he’ll be okay, that’s what’s important.

“Poseidon-ore has ordered that should this Luke Castellan be seen, he be handed over to Poseidon-ore. He will face the sea’s justice.”

“Hmm,” Dionysus took a long sip of his Diet Coke. “I almost feel bad for him. Old Seaweed does not take kindly to harming his kids, much less child ones. The sea’s punishment for harming a child on purpose is…”

He shrugged, “Well, I’m sure he’ll regret his actions.”

What’s the sea’s justice? What’s going to happen to Luke?

I swallowed hard.

Luke…

I can’t believe he…

I took a shaky breath.

He’s… he really betrayed us.

I didn’t…

“Annabell are you going to stand there forever?”

I jolted, realizing that Chiron and the sea guy had left the room, Mr. D’s gaze was on me.

Wait, I’m invisible right?

I pat my head, yeah, my hat is on. How did he?

“You’re trying my patience.”

I took off my hat, Mr. D studying me silently.

“Eavesdropping isn’t polite Miss Cook.”

Can he never get my name right?

“I just-“ I faltered. I want to explain, but would that really be enough for a God?

He sighed, “Your little friend will be fine. Though I can’t say the same for that Luka boy.”

I swallowed, “He really… but why?”

I know I sound desperate, but why? Why would Luke do this?

Mr. D shook his head, “He’s angry. Angry teens do idiotic things.”

I looked away, “But he… he promised to stay…”

“Mortals have a bad habit of breaking promises,” he said softly. “Especially Half-Bloods.”

I shook my head, “I- he…”

A hand landed on my head, I flinched, looking up in surprise.

Mr. D pat my head, “He left, you’ll have to accept that. Don’t let him keep a hold on you, it’ll break you.”

I felt calmer, like my scattered thoughts had been pieced together. I blinked up at Mr. D in surprise.

“I-“ I swallowed. “Thank you.”

He nodded, casually summoning another Diet Coke as he walked away.

“Oh, and Annabell?”

“Yes, Mr. D?”

“Don’t let me catch you eavesdropping again. Next time you’ll have chores.”

I flushed, “Yes, Mr. D.”

He vanished.

Now how are we going to tell the camp?

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Mr. D announced at dinner that Luke had betrayed the camp and tried to kill Percy on his way out.

Everyone had questions, and the Hermes cabin tried to argue. Well, a lot of people tried to argue. The members still at camp from the Demeter and Aphrodite cabin looked horrified and worried.

“Shut up, brats,” Mr. D snapped.

Everyone shut up.

“No one is happy Luka betrayed the camp, and we’re even less happy he tried to kill a camper on his way out, but we have actual evidence of his actions.” His gaze was burning as it swept over all the campers. “Accept it or don’t, but Luke Castellan will not be allowed back inside the camp. If you see him you’re to inform me immediately. Understood?”

No one spoke for a long moment.

“I said, Understood?”

“Yes, Mr. D,” everyone mumbled.

“Good, now enjoy dinner, or whatever.”

“Um… Mr. D?”

He sighed, “Yes?”

“Where’s Percy?”

Everyone perked up as I winced.

“Yeah, why isn’t he at camp?”

“You said he almost died, how?”

“What happened?”

He took a long gulp of his Diet Coke, “Jackson is in the ocean, probably at his dad’s palace. He’s expected to make a full recovery from the Pit Scorpion that Luka set on him.”

The other campers murmured, Dylan frowning beside me.

“Wait, why does he get to see his parent?” He muttered.

I huffed, “He just does. His brother, Triton, saved his life.”

Dylan huffed, “We don’t get to see our mom? And anyways, are you sure Luke did this? That doesn’t sound like him.”

I shifted, “He did. I- I don’t like it either but… he betrayed the camp.”

I looked away, poking at my food.

Dylan didn’t look convinced though.

I glanced around, realizing quite a few people seemed unconvinced. There were a few kids from the Hermes cabin talking about how this didn’t seem right, and frowns from the Apollo cabin. Only the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins seemed convinced, and even they looked hesitant.

I looked back at my food.

I don’t think the camp is going to accept Luke’s betrayal.

I swallowed hard, stabbing at the chicken.

This doesn’t seem good.


	2. Announcing a Royal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get an announcement about Percy :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I would say sorry for the week late chapter, but life happens sometimes.
> 
> Really struggled with this chapter, just didn't want to be written. On top of that, school is very hard right now, like specifically one part of school is hitting my mental health hard and I'm struggling a lot to do things when I keep having to do... that... The next chapter should hopefully be smoother! I've done a lot of plotting over the last week, even if I struggled with writing, so there's a lot planned :D
> 
> On another note, on my discord I'm having a fanart competition, it is only for those on the discord. Winner gets to ask any question and gets to request a one-shot and gets an early look at some myths/legends/stories of the sea! Second place gets an early look and one question, any question, and third place also gets an early look :D
> 
> Join the discord to join the contest!
> 
> Translations for the Halmaheran will be at the bottom as usual.
> 
> Thank you Izzy for helping with dialogue and Fezzik for betaing <3
> 
> Come yell at me on Tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on Discord: https://discord.gg/6Pf8JgJ

I sat still as the hair stylist carefully brushed out my hair, mumbling about how it was at such an in-between length now.

“Please stay still, Perseus-aia. I cannot do your hair properly if you keep squirming.”

I forced myself to still again.

“You never can sit still, can you, Percy-aia?”

I huffed at Fetu’s comment, I would turn to glare at him, but I don’t think the hair stylist would be pleased.

“What’s this?” Lagi asked, continuing the exploration of my room that he’d been doing since he entered. The hair stylist mumbled something about them being horribly informal in how they spoke to me.

I tried to look over without moving my head, catching a glimpse of the black fabric that made up the veil Annabeth bought me.

“Oh, that’s a veil.”

He squinted at it and Fetu frowned, “Uh, that’s not a veil? It’s definitely not made of jellyfish at all.”

“Land dwellers don’t make veils from Jellyfish, they make them from cloth.”

“Why do they do that?” Fetu wondered. “Kelp cloth is super expensive.”

I blinked, oh yeah, the clothes under the sea are all made from kelp cloth (which is the softest thing ever), and that’s really hard to make and very expensive.

“Well,” I started. “On land they use animal fur like sheep, or a different plant material, like cotton. They don’t even know how to make kelp cloth I don’t think.”

They both looked baffled.

“They use animal fur?” Lagi asked

I nodded, trying to think back to that science class where we talked about it. “Yeah, the animals that they use the fur of usually need to be shaved because of health reasons, so it helps the animals to be shaved, and we use the fur for clothing.”

“How strange,” Fetu said, peering at the cloth Lagi was still holding.

“So this is made out of animal fur?” Lagi asked.

“Nope,” I said cheerfully. “That’s made from silk!”

“What’s silk?” Lagi said with a frown.

“Oh,” I thought, was it spiders? Yeah, I think so. “They’re, I think, made of spider silk. So they collect a whole bunch and make it fabric.”

Fetu blinked slowly, “Spiders?”

“Those uh, eight legged… um… creepy crawling death bringers?” I faltered. “...that’s what Annabeth calls them.”

They both stared blankly, “Do you mean… Arachnids?”

“Yeah! That’s the… the… what’s the word… the official… book lookup term…”

Fetu and Lagi stared blankly.

“You know,” I frowned. “The… the term for… if you do things and it’s just doing things you have to write it down for it to be… Science!! It’s the scientific term!”

“Ooooh,” Lagi said. “Land dwellers are very strange.”

“Did you forget the word _scientific_?” Fetu laughed.

“Oh, do be quiet,” I grumbled, face warm.

Lagi snickered, “The struggles of land dwellers, not using science enough for the word to be remembered.”

“I just forgot the word!”

“The book lookup term,” Fetu declared sagely. There was a beat of silence.

“Wait,” Lagi said slowly. “Did you say… they get the silk from _arachnids_?”

“Arachnids don’t make silk?” Fetu said.

“They make thread,” I pointed out.

“No, arachnid crabs do,” Fetu insisted.

“Well… arachnids do on land.”

“Land is so strange,” Lagi mumbled. “What’s this?”

“Perseus-aia,” the hairdresser said smoothly. “I need you to stay very still for a moment.”

“Here,” Lagi flicked over to me, showing me a tooth in his hand.

I had to think for a moment, sitting still as the hairdresser twisted my hair around the hair piece.

That’s… oh, that disastrous field trip _forever_ ago.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “That’s the tooth from the saber tooth tiger!”

“The what?” Lagi asked.

“It’s a land animal, a really big cat. It’s extinct now though.”

There was a brief pause.

“What’s a cat?”

“Furry four legged… thing.”

Lagi huffed, “You’ll need to show us one of these… cats.”

“Think octopus,” I suggested. “But furrier, and only has four legs.”

“That’s a weird animal,” Fetu mused. “How does it walk? It can’t swim in air can it?”

“No, that would be a bird,” I corrected.

“Ah, how strange. Then what does it do?”

“Just one foot…” Oh right, merfolk don’t have feet. “They have legs and feet, like arms and hands but instead of tails or tentacles.”

They both stared blankly.

“I’ve never seen a land dweller or… cat… before,” Fetu said. “And I never want to now.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, “I’m not explaining right.”

“No no, you made them appropriately horrific,” drawled a voice from the doorway.

I turned to see a human figure standing there. He wore black pants with grey and emerald green stitching that were held in place with gold clasps. He was shirtless, as is the custom for everyone undersea, and his skin was a deep bronze.

His eyes caught mine as he studied me, one sharp gold, the other the same sea green as all the children of Poseidon. His black hair curled around him in the water as he opened his mouth.

“So, you’re the new kid?”

He walked towards me, jarring in the out of place way that he moved. He was walking, in the sea…

Lagi swept between us, “Who are you?”

His voice echoed with his power, the feeling of slipping currents and the scent of my mother's perfume filling my senses.

“I’m Khrysaôr,” the man said. He blinked once, then suddenly his sword was at Lagi’s throat. “Don’t use your voice on me or you’ll lose it.”

The hairdresser interrupted, pulling their hands back.

“I am done Percy-aia.”

I swept up quickly, hesitating to

“You are Khrysaôr?” Lagi asked. “Son of Poseidon-ore and Medusa-nio? Why would you be here?”

“And where is your tail?” Fetu added.

Khrysaôr’s eyes narrowed, blade not wavering, “I am also a prince of the sea, in case you forgot your lessons, turhora-ia. I do not have a tail. Now leave my brother’s room, it’s very inappropriate for you to be here without supervision.”

Lagi and Fetu bristled.

“We are not alone,” Fetu pointed out firmly. “Or is the hairdresser not mer enough for you?”

“A hairdresser is not an official chaperone,” Khrysaôr informed them matter-of-factly. “Besides, you are in his _bedroom_ , so incredibly inappropriate. The bedroom is a safe, sacred space, you shouldn’t invade it with your… ranked selves.”

Lagi’s eyes narrowed as Khrysaôr looked him over pointedly, but with a sword at his throat he dared not move.

“And who are you to judge?” Fetu questioned coolly, his fingers twining with mine for a moment.

I flushed as Khrysaôr’s gaze locked onto the motion.

“His older brother,” he flashed a sharp smile. “So get out.”

Both hesitated another moment, glancing at me.

Well, he _is_ my brother… Triton wouldn’t let someone in who was dangerous?

Plus… he’s kinda right… them being in my room isn’t super appropriate but I haven’t seen them in ages and Triton allowed it…

I bit my lip.

“It’s fine,” I assured. “It was nice to talk again. Perhaps we can meet later?”

“Very well,” Lagi said.

They both twisted their hands in goodbye, Fetu squeezing my hand gently before letting go.

“Arhoa, hovi opu em pota,” Fetu murmured as he swam away.

“Tal u maiv mahur,” Lagi added.

The twins swam out, shooting one more sharp look at Khrysaôr as they left.

He lowered his blade as Lagi left, the blade seeming to twist and vanish into curls of saltwater.

Woah.

The hairdresser quickly made a motion of respect and swept off themselves.

“So,” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “You’re the little brother.”

“I am,” I said politely. Medusa’s son, that’s what Lagi had said. The brother of Pegasus. “Nice to meet you.”

He hummed, “You don’t look like much.”

I watched him, fingering my bracelet that was missing the trident charm. “Looks can be deceiving.”

He shrugged, “Perhaps. I don’t understand why such a fuss is being made. There hasn’t been such a big deal made of a child since Pallas.”

I forced myself to smile, “They seem very excited.”

“Indeed,” he mused. “I suppose they would be, what with the rumors that Oceanus will adopt you.”

I blinked, “What?”

What does he mean? Oceanus, adopt _me_?

“Oh?” He smirked at me. “You don’t know? Oceanus threatened to steal you from our _hetae_ Metua. Metua is no doubt working hard to prove that you are his child.”

I blinked slowly. What?

“Ah-“

“Oh,” grumbled a much more familiar voice. “It’s you.”

Khrysaôr’s gaze lit up.

“Triton-re'tai! My dearest older brother! How are you?” He spun to him, throwing his arms out grandly.

Triton glowered at him “You’re back. How _delightful_.”

“Did you miss me?”

“I could hardly sleep for missing you so,” Triton said with an eye roll. “Percy, are you alright?”

“Isn’t his name Perseus?” Khrysaôr pointed out.

“I’m fine,” I assured Triton. “The hairdresser said I was ready.”

Triton nodded, swimming over to me and ignoring Khrysaôr.

“Hmm, we’ll have to remove the necklace for now, the cord is too light, it’ll get in the way. We’ll buy a chain for it to weigh it down a bit.”

“You’d almost believe he was your child,” Khrysaôr mused.

Triton took a slow breath, “Are you all set? Your hair looks good, the shells twisted in right, and your tail is shining.”

He was looking me over, face tight.

“You seem all set,” he murmured.

He turned, eyeing Khrysaôr, “You’ll need to get to the Oftunep soon or you’ll be late.”

Khrysaôr hummed, “Of course, of course. Wouldn’t want to be late to the announcement.”

He turned to leave, pausing at the door.

“Oh,” he shot me a vicious grin. “Welcome to the family.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Poseidon POV**

Delphin swam around, keeping an eye on everyone and ensuring there were no issues. Putting Ryujin and Nāmaka in the same room is rather asking for conflict— those two are constantly fighting over the Hawaiian waters.

Ryujin just needs to let Nāmaka live in peace.

I shook my head, now is not the time for politics, as long as I don’t have to interfere because the two get into a fight it’s fine.

The room was looking good. My hetae vahivu did an excellent job ensuring that the sionav set everything up perfectly.

The Ofehare Imote did an excellent job setting up the table coral, they look very elegant and the actinia anemone decorating the centers were practically glowing.

Tame (the proper word for merfolk), Tatea (varying species from hammerhead to even a great white), Temati (some old with shells coated in algae, some young with their fins sticking awkwardly out of their shells), and Marame (primarily Delphin’s workers but a few from further seas) swam around enjoying the various snacks.

I forced a smile on my face as I swept to my throne, where the rest of the family was already waiting. Only three people were missing. 

Just as I had that thought, Khrysaôr waltzed in.

I winced, I always forget that this particular son of mine only has a human shape. I can already see the looks being shot his way.

He is my child though, and the child of Medusa… I must give him the same honor I give all my children, even if he doesn’t have tails (nor want them).

I focused back on task, now only Triton and Perseus are missing. Triton went to retrieve Perseus though, so they should both be here shortly and then the announcement can begin.

“Khrysaôr,” I said with a nod. “Glad that you could join us.” 

“So happy to be here, Metua. Oh, hello Kymopoleia, make any storms lately?” 

I sighed as he swaggered over to Kym to start talking about the chaos they cause.

Those two get along way too well.

“Are you all ready,” Amphitrite murmured beside me. 

“Of course, hereaen,” I soothed. “I am completely prepared. Oceanus will not steal my child from me. He’s failed before, and he’ll fail again.”

“Ah, my daughter, how are you?” Oceanus swept up before us.

Speak of Oceanus and he shall appear, _areo_.

“We are doing well,” Amphitrite responded. “And you?” 

“Quite well, looking forward to your little announcement.”

“I’m sure,” I murmured. “Everyone is very excited for the announcement of another prince of the sea.”

His eyes gleamed, “Well, he’ll be a prince regardless of the outcome of our, ah, arrangement.”

I smiled tightly as Tethys glided over as well.

Lovely, everyone’s here again.

“Poseidon, Amphitrite,” she said smoothly. “How is Percy-tou?”

My eye twitched, I still don’t know how they met him but he’d clearly recognized them when they’d arrived.

“He is well, simply preparing for the announcement.”

“Yes,” she glanced at the coral table that held two elegant armbands. “And those are his armbands, then?”

“They are,” I said with a small twist of my hand in acknowledgement. 

She studied them, taking in the gold bands with the intricate kraken design on them— Triton had insisted. The kraken held a trident (which all my children’s bands hold) in its tentacles, and if you looked closely you would see the scale patterns in the background, as well as conch shells and corals hidden amongst the tentacles.

Maeki-sem worked through the tides’ changes to make them so quickly with such mastery. They truly are the greatest Fepasem in the sea.

“It looks lovely,” Tethys said. “I simply adore the little fork it’s holding.”

My eye twitched, “Yes, it’s a very lovely trident.”

“Ah yes, that,” she smiled brilliantly. “So when is Percy-tou arriving?”

“ _Perseus_ will be here shortly.”

As I spoke the doors opened, Triton sweeping in with his conch shell in hand.

He took a breath, then blew into the conch shell. 

It’s sound echoed through the room, catching everyone’s attention.

“Beings of the Sea, may I bring your attention to our newest arrival, announcing: Perseus Jackson, the Son of Poseidon, Prince of the Sea, Retriever of the Master Bolt and Survivor of the Underworld.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Oceanus POV**

Listening to the rumors around the room are always rather entertaining. 

It’s been so long since a full court was called, not since that mess with Nodens and Lír happened. Nearly five hundred years really.

Everyone has something to say, most of it very entertaining.

“I heard that the meeting is because his son _started_ a war.”

“And here I’d thought it was because he _ended_ a war.”

“No no, he fought the God of War! And ended _him_.”

“He killed the God of War?”

“Which one?” 

“The Greek one-”

“Of course it’s the Greek one-”

“Didn’t he fight the Chimera?”

“I heard it killed him-”

“No he killed it-”

“He didn’t kill the God of War, he’s mortal!”

“But Echidna was off licking her wounds after their fight-”

“Oh I heard from Ranga-pe that he’s getting adopted-”

“He’s getting disowned you mean-”

“No he’s getting promoted-”

“Can we go back to him fighting the God of War?”

“That’s last week’s news, catch up.”

“Oceanus tailed over here real fast-”

“Did you see the way that he and Poseidon were talking?”

“I do hope they don’t start another war-”

“Did you hear that a war almost started-”

“That’s what I was just saying!”

“He got that bolt thing, the one that that king in the Greek Pantheon uses.”

“You mean the one that is constantly fighting with Poseidon?”

“I like that guy-”

I shook my head as I swam towards Poseidon and Amphitrite. They’re looking very confident that their scheme will work.

It’s a good way to make it difficult for me to adopt him. The sea will likely acknowledge Percy-tou as theirs if Poseidon manages this properly, and interfering would only make me look bad.

I shall simply have to hope he screws this up.

Who am I kidding, of course he will.

I greeted my daughter, and held in my laugh at my love’s comment about the trident on the arm bands. 

They are rather well made, especially for being done on such short notice, but ours are better.

When we adopt Percy he’ll have arm bands as our child, and they are far lovelier. 

I turned as the doors opened, right on cue.

Triton’s announcement was suitably grand, and it’s rather impressive that Percy-tou already has two titles to his name (along with the one’s he was born with of course).

And then Percy entered.

His deep blue hair was pulled up and pinned into a small bun with coral pins. There were assorted shells threaded through his hair. His green and blue scales glittered in the light of the Manisi pearls, going up his sides some, though not nearly as far as those from deeper or more southern or northern waters.

He wore only his bracelet, the same one he’s had since we’d met him, with no other jewelry or embellishment. 

He swam in, head held high, hands tucked behind him looking every inch the prince of the sea that he is.

We swept back, settling amongst the group as Triton and Percy-tou moved to the front, Triton passing by him to settle at his own throne, to the direct right of Poseidon’s.

Poseidon smiled faintly, before raising his hand to greet Percy-tou. Percy-tou raised his hands back.

“Perseus-aia,” Poseidon greeted.

“Poseidon-re’ore,” Percy-tou responded.

Poseidon turned his gaze to the crowd that I stood in.

"Welcome, Aritohav, Arinitav, and others. I thank each and every one of you for gathering here today for this special occasion.” His gaze swept across the crowd, lingering on me for just a moment. 

His expression didn’t falter as he continued, “Today, in this most prestigious of days, I am delighted to present a new member of the royal family of Atlantis.”

There were a few murmurs from the crowd now as rumors were proved and disproved in turn. 

“Thirteen years ago I had a son, but due to the restrictions of Olympus and Zues’ never ending wrath, I had to keep him my closest secret. Today that changes.”

He smiled, spreading his hands to bring attention to the child standing in front of him.

“My son has not only proven himself as a worthy child of the sea, but as a prince, a demigod, a hero, and a son. He found and returned Zeus’ Master Bolt, braved the dangers of the Underworld to speak to Hades and then sought out his missing Helm of Darkness. He faced the God of War in battle and emerged victorious.”

I frowned at the clear looks of approval from the crowd, they are pleased with this. Of course it’s impressive, but the point is that he _shouldn’t have had to do all that._

“May I present to you my youngest son, Perseus Bellerophon Jackson!"

Might I supply you with what Lagi and Fetu were picturing when Percy described the cat?

(By @mremily9 on Tumblr)

(By @carolinelikesdinner on Tumblr)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of the announcement? What about Oceanus? What did you think of Khrysaôr?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran Words~~  
> turhora-ia=Apprentice Song (a way of saying apprentice of the siren's song mages)  
> Arhoa, hovi opu em pota=Farewell, See you in time  
> Tal u maiv mahur=Have a good day  
> hetae=darling  
> Metua=Father  
> Oftunep=Announcement room/Ball room/the name of the room where they hold grand announcements for many guests  
> vahivu=Wife  
> Ofehare Imote=Coral Shaper Mage  
> Tame=Merfolk  
> Tatea=Shark  
> Temati=Turtle  
> Marame=Dolphins  
> hereaen=My Love  
> areo=curse word  
> Fepasem=Metal Smith  
> Manisi (Pearls)=Sun Pearls  
> Aritohav=Royals  
> Arinitav=Ambassadors
> 
> ~~Suffixes~~  
> -aia=Prince  
> -ore=current king  
> -nio=one of Poseidon's affairs (yes they have a term specifically for that)  
> -re'tai=older brother  
> -re'aia=High Prince/Crown Prince  
> -tou=Cute little one  
> -sem=Smith (like metal smith)  
> -re'ore=High King/Emperor (very official)  
> -pe=Mx


	3. Kidnapping and Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> family bonding <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Something I should announce right now now that me and Izzy have been accused.
> 
> IzzyMRDB is a dear friend of mine, one of my best friends, and they are writing a story that was inspired by this one. "I may be a Dumbass, but I'm not Stupid".
> 
> Please don't accuse me of stealing from the story that is inspired by mine alksndfa. And please don't accuse them of stealing from me. We talk weekly if not daily and compare notes constantly. Our stories have a lot of overlap because we work together on a lot of the lore points. Everything we share is mutual.
> 
> It's absolutely wild that someone that's been following my story since the beginning informed Izzy I was stealing from them, like, please, their story is marked as inspired by mine.
> 
> Anyways, there's a lot of Halmaheran words in this chapter, I have full translations at the end but a decent amount of them should be familiar, the ones that aren't will be ones that will appear a lot in the future so seriously don't worry if you don't get them here, they'll pop up again.
> 
> Come yell at me on Tumblr: @Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on Discord: https://discord.gg/cNfXDbC

**Triton POV**

I watched the procession, filled with pride as Metua slid the bands on Percy’s arms.

It’s been a very long time since a Princette of the sea was banded and Percy did it all properly. And it only took two dozen practices till Mevua was satisfied.

Now it’s my turn.

I slid the trident charm out of the pouch at my side, tugging it lightly so that it transformed into a full-size trident. Percy’s new trident.

The celestial bronze shone as he held it by the kraken leather grip. He’d had it made specifically for Percy, every detail specified, down to the scale patterns down the shaft and the conch shell charm hanging just beneath where the points start.

When Metua flicked back I swept forward, expression solemn as I settled in front of Percy.

Percy twisted his hand respectfully, the fingers folded precisely. I copied the motion as I began speaking.

“"Percy Bellerphon Jackson, Son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson, today you have been recognized as Prince of Atlantis, Youngest Prince of Poseidon's Court, Prince of the Oceans. Every Prince needs a proper weapon, and you are no exception. You are thirteen Veruov old, and now of the age to receive your true weapon, to hold in hand through battle and peace.”

I studied Percy, he looked like he was trying very hard to look proper and princely while still eyeing the trident in excitement.

My lips twitched, hidden from the guests, “The greatest of the Royal forgers have come together to make a weapon suitable to your loyalty, grace, and strength. I am proud to present your weapon: The Trident of the Uteron Piviua. It holds the name Mairoik Upe, the Cleansing Red Tide.”

It had been forged in the toxic waters of the red algae, to bind the power of the blade and infuse it with the proper intent. In time Percy will be able to use it to augment certain skills of his.

“May it serve you with all the power you wield.”

I couldn’t help my smile as I held the trident out for him, allowing him to get a solid grip before letting go.

His eyes were sparkling, and he was clearly holding back a grin as he made the proper motion of gratitude with his free hand.

I watched proudly as he floated strong, looking every inch the prince he was.

“Thank you Triton-re’aia. I vow to use this weapon nobly, to keep the peace of the sea and ensure the safety of our subjects.”

I twisted my fingers into the motion of acceptance, swishing aside so that he could be seen by the many guests.

I took a breath, before announcing to the many beings watching, “Before you stands Percy Bellerophon Jackson, the youngest of Atlantis’ royals, second Prince of Atlantis. May he live with bright scales and swift currents.”

“May he bring clean waters and calm waves,” declared the guests, as is tradition.

Percy made a motion of respectful greeting, and the ceremony was complete.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Percy POV**

I was finally back in my room, my one in Atlantis that is. My bed was comfy and I really didn’t want to get up.

The ceremony had been so stressful. I was so scared of getting something wrong and making a fool of myself in front of everyone there.

I’m honestly so thankful for the strict lessons Amphitrite put me through over the last week. Plus, the few dozen practice rounds of the ceremony, that was scary.

And then having to interact with all the guests after? So stressful.

At least Triton was there. He made sure to support me and interrupted the few times I messed up a bit. Thankfully nothing too bad, but I’ve never interacted in such a high class setting.

At least I got to spend some time with Fetu and Lagi, they introduced me to their parents. One was clearly from the Ive Mahuti Moare, with branched horns and scales with almost fur like fins reminding me of the draconic beings that live there. His spouse was definitely from the Ive Pahuti Moare, Duberdicus’ territory. The scale patterns were very similar to the ones of the merfolk of Atlantis, the two nations have a lot of overlap.

They were a lot more colorful, I could see where Fetu and Lagi got the bright colors from. They seem to have inherited more of their parent’s coloring and appearance than their father’s. I wonder how they would look with horns like him?

I sighed, at least the meetings hadn’t been too awkward overall, but then I had to get introduced to the subjects of Atlantis, and that was stressful.

Everyone stared at me.

They hadn’t seemed to dislike me though?

I don’t know, the whole thing made my skin kind of raw. All the sensations were fairly similar, all reminding me of water in some way, but they had a lot of variety and I’m very glad I don’t have to be in such a large group again for awhile.

But it’s over, I’m introduced and banded and everything there is done.

Now I just need to finish the main physical therapy and finish setting up the stuff for the school year and I’ll be good!

I fingered my new trident charm for a moment before my stomach growling had me pushing out of the bed. My tails draping over the edge as I ran a hand through my hair.

I should clean up some… I am the Prince and Triton emphasizes all the time how important it is to look neat and tidy and in control in front of others.

I groaned and flicked over to the table thing, kinda reminds me or a vanity. On it sat a few brushes, two for hair and a couple for tails plus a scrub for skin.

It’s interesting to me how different it is undersea. There aren’t baths or showers, you’re always in the water. Instead you have to use scrubs and brushes.

I scooped up one of the hair brushes, the bristles widely spaced, and took a moment to brush my hair then used my coral hair pin to pin it back.

I grabbed the scrub for my skin, rubbing it over my skin and removing any algae, plankton, and other assorted specks that clung to it.

Finally, I used the scale brushes (they’re almost like a cross between a brush and a scrub) to clean my tails, scrubbing at them until the scales shone and carefully using the gentler brush on the flowy fins and actual tail at the end.

I learned the hard way that you need to be gentler with the fins, they’re much more delicate.

I slid the bands on my arms distractedly (Triton said that I should wear them whenever I’m at the sea… and suggested out as well). Now to clean up a bit.

I put all the brushes back in place and picked up my camp necklace, a single bead hanging on it… or well, floating…

Triton mentioned getting a heavier chain for it, but I’m not sure where I’d do that…

“Hello, hetae tatu!”

I jolted, turning to find Kymopoleia floating in the doorway.

“Hello, Kymopoleia-vua,” I said carefully.

“Grab you things, we’re going shopping.”

I blinked, “What?”

She stayed at the door as she motioned to me, “Get ready to go. Triton’s busy today so you’re with me-“

“And me!” Herophile declared, head poking out from behind Kymopoleia.

“Yeah, you’re with us. We’re going shopping.”

I blinked, “Oh, um-“

I guess that works? Can I buy a chain for the camp necklace while we’re out?

“One sec-“

I swam to the draw, pulling out one of the belt pouches.

Those in the sea don’t really wear clothes, there’s no point and the fabric just gets messy. The clothes sold in the sea are mainly for those that venture on land. What we do have are belt like things, they have shaped pouches formed out of woven kelp and sea grass.

I connected a belt around my waist and slipped the necklace in it then swam over to Kymopoleia and Herophile, one looking smug and the other delighted.

“Perfect, so we’re getting you some things to spruce up your room and getting a beauty treatment because those are _so_ nice,” Kymopoleia started tugging me through the halls. “I was thinking we could go to the theatre, Momus and the Gods is happening today, and there’s also Uku’s Storm which always has the best effects, the imoteorav they hire are top notch for plays.”

“Can I buy a chain for my camp necklace?” I asked when she paused.

She blinked, “Oh, yeah sure. We can stop by a jewelry place. Hmm…”

She turned to study me, “I think gold would look best.”

“It would match the-” Herophile faltered “-five letters, starts with B, worn on arms-“

“Bands,” Kymopoleia said.

“Yeah! It would match the bands.”

“It doesn’t need to be too much,” I started to assure.

“Nonsense, gold, I’m not sure of the type of chain, we’ll need to see the necklace to figure that out. Did you bring it?”

I nodded, struggling to keep up as she tugged me along.

“Wonderful, we’ll see if anything else fits you. Oh, Triton mentioned something about you learning tahuhu, what kind did you learn?”

I considered, tahuhu, magic.

“Well,” I hesitated. “I mostly focused on purification magic, and Thermomancy. I’ve been learning some Siren’s Song though, I’m only a beginner there. And I want to learn more about healing because it would be super useful.”

Herophile beamed, “Have you considered learning- um-“ she hesitated “-eight letters, prediction of the future.”

“Prophecy,” Kym offered.

“Yeah! It’s a fun magic…”

I considered, “I mean, I have dreams sometime… They’re uh, they’re called Hee-oh-eep-hah-ee-oh?”

“Hee-oh-ee-pee-hah-ee-hoe,” Kymopoleia corrected. “Close though.”

“Hioipihaiho is one of the most common forms,” Herophile agreed. “It’s one of the easiest to control though! If you- uh- if you-it’s…”

“Try?” Kymopoleia suggested.

“No, hard work-“

“Attempt?”

“No no…”

“Train?”

“Starts with a P!” Herophile exclaimed.

“Practice?” Percy offered.

“Yes! If you practice, then you’ll be able to control it in time. But it’s also da- it’s- it can be- uh…”

She wrinkled her nose, looking very frustrated.

“It can be bad for you.”

“Dangerous?” Kymopoleia asked.

“Yeah, dangerous. It is you, your personality and being. At least when doing hioipihaiho. If someone can trap it they can trap you, or hurt you, it’s bad.”

I nodded, “Is there a way to stop it? Or protect yourself?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but it takes lots of practice. You have to learn trenching and learn how to shield yourself from outside energies. It’s not something you learn fast.”

“Oh, okay,” I felt a bit disappointed, but I haven’t had issues with my dreams so far so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I can teach you though!” Herophile said suddenly, looking at me with hopeful eyes. “I’ve been doing it forever!”

“Oh,” that would be nice I suppose. “If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t want to take away from your time-“

“No! I’d- I’d- I- ugh…” she frowned for a moment. “I’d really like it!”

“Cool,” said Kymopoleia. “So Herophile will teach you to control those dreams, I’m gonna teach you to raise storms!”

Her eyes were sparkling as she turned to face me as we left the castle.

“It’s going to be amazing! Just don’t tell Triton.”

I blinked, “Um, isn’t raising storms hard?”

“Well, big ones yeah,” she said with a shrug. “But we’ll start small. Then do big ones!”

“Oh,” I considered. “How do you start it?”

Kymopoleia grinned, “We’ll start it later. But it’s going to be the best thing you’ll ever learn.”

“Storms are cool,” Herophile agreed. “Kym is good at them.”

Kymopoleia nodded sagely, “I am.”

She paused in the water now.

“Anyways, the markets over there,” she pointed at an area filled with shining pearls and arching coral buildings. “That’s where we’re going first.”

“Over there is the- the-“ Herophile thought for a moment. “Play place.”

Kymopoleia laughed, “The park?”

“No!” Herophile pouted. “The… the play… the place where plays are.”

“Oh,” Kymopoleia snickered. “You mean the theater, yeah that’s there. We’re going there after shopping and a nice relaxing beauty treatment.”

“What’s a beauty treatment?” I asked.

Kymopoleia gasped, “You’ve never had a beauty treatment before? Oh that won’t do, I’ll have to fix that immediately!”

Herophile nodded, “They’re so nice! Relaxing! And you’re so shiny after.”

“They’re wonderful,” Kymopoleia insisted. “You’re going to love it.”

She snagged my hand, tugging me down to the market.

“Now for shopping!”

Herophile swam right alongside us as we entered the market area.

It was multi-layered, with many colors of coral making up the buildings around us. The pinks and purples and blues made a striking backdrop of the buildings, with many different anemones clinging to the corals, some seeming to make gardens.

I looked around in awe at the many shops.

“That place has some great books,” Kymopoleia said. “And that’s one of the best ink-makers in the undersea, very expensive though.”

“Most inks are,” Herophile added.

“True,” Kymopoleia agreed. “Now then, jewelry, over there is a good one, lots of charms and the like…”

She paused, “What does your necklace look like?”

I pulled it out of my pouch, showing her the skillfully made clay bead.

“Oh, I like the trident,” she grinned. “Okay, I think that Tuki’s shop would be the best one for this.”

She led the way, slipping through the crowds easily. Herophile stuck by me as I slipped down and up and to the sides and all around. It’s not like land stores at all, you don’t just stay on one level. The market in Atlantis was for all levels, and everyone went up and down the same way you’d go right or left on land.

When we caught up to Herophile she was standing at an arched entrance to a store. The board on the coral said “Hena Potaeov”. Lovely Pearls, sounds promising.

“There you are,” Kymopoleia said. “Come on.”

She led the way in, pushing the shell curtain aside and sweeping in.”

Inside was lit softly with ponisi pearls, illuminating the many coral shelves, with careful nooks filled with glittering gems, sparkling metals, and many other creations.

The room itself made me rub my arms, twisting currents that almost seemed like a wall. I’m not sure what that feeling is.

“Ho ponuho, hamoto,” murmured a voice from the back.

I turned and noticed a merman working with a thin line of metal, shaping it carefully with deft twists of his hands.

Another sensation hovered in the air, fainter than the wall currents, something like a heartbeat thrumming against my skin.

I shook my head, focusing in as the mer finished his work.

“Ta, Kymopoleia-ava, eaye uk otiat, y Herophile-ava,” he smiled. “Noaye etav ta rav rao opu ertma?”

Kym smiled at the greeting, responding in Halmaheran before switching to English. “Yeatula, maiv mafatu. We’re here for a chain for my soha tatun necklace.”

His gaze switched to me when she mentioned her little brother, studying me intently.

“Ah yes, the sovuoti aipri,” he nodded. “Let me see the necklace.”

I pulled it out of my pouch again, handing it over to who I assume is Tuki to look at.

He hummed, studying it for a moment.

“A cute charm, are you wanting a new charm? Or just a chain?”

“Just a chain,” I said quickly. “The charm is from camp.”

He cocked an eyebrow but nodded. “A snake chain would work best, I think. Perhaps…” he dug around for a moment. “Here we are.”

He pulled the bead from the leather cord, compared sizes, then reached for some… tweezers? They were made out of some sort of shell material it seemed.

A few moments of twisting the metal led to it shaping properly, then he slid the bead onto it.

Somehow it didn’t look that out of place, despite the high difference in quality.

“Hmm, perhaps adjust the bead, add some embellishment around the edges-“

“No,” I said. “It’s perfect as is.”

He looked a bit doubtful, “If you’re certain…”

“I am, havu,” I twisted my hand to support the thanks I offered.

He sighed, “Maiv, uafoto. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes,” Kymopoleia said. “My tatu has far too little jewelry, is there anything here that you think would fit him well?”

The man studied me, “I have a few necklaces… have you considered earrings?”

I blinked, earrings?

Kymopoleia studied me, “Earrings… hmm… What kinds do you have today?”

Herophile looked excited, “Do you have blue ones?”

“A few, I’m sure I can find one that satisfies you.”

I glanced at one of the coral nooks, assorted hair pieces gleaming in it.

…

“Can I buy something for my mom?”

Herophile’s eye’s lit up, “Oh that’s so sweet!”

Kymopoleia pulled out a collection of gold coins (I love the undersea coins, they’re shaped like scallop shells with a hole through the base), “Yeah sure, get her whatever you want. Metu is paying.”

I blinked, Dad is paying!? Did he give permission? Should I not buy too much?

“You should get that one,” Herophile said, pointing at a really elegant pearl and deep blue coral hair piece.

Mom would love that.

“I love it,” I said.

Herophile beamed.

“Okay, we want that,” Kymopoleia said. “And then we want Perseus’ ears pierced.”

I leaned over, curious about what earrings there were.

Sitting on the flat coral counter were assorted earrings ranging from simple pearls, to flattened pearls (both plain and with designs carved on), to mother of pearl shaped earrings, to twisted corals shaped like a dozen different things, to even little gems (are those diamonds) that glittered in the light of the ponisi, and even some simple metal ones, gold, silver, bronze, and platinum.

“Wow,” I muttered.

Kymopoleia picked two simple pearl ones (one blue and one white), a mother of pearl set shaped like conch shells, three hooped earrings in gold, platinum, and coral, and two sparkling gems.

“Hmm,” she held them up to me with a thoughtful look. “Which of these are best…”

“I like the blue pearl,” I offered.

“They would be good starting earrings…”

“I could throw it in as a set,” Tuki suggested. “The three hoops in one, the two pearls in another.”

“We’re definitely getting the conch ones,” Kymopoleia said. “Might as well buy a few though, you can pick your favorites later.”

“Yeah! And you’ll look great with them,” Herophile said eagerly. “They’ll go great with the- the-“ she huffed. “They’ll match well in the future.”

I smiled, Herophile is really sweet.

Kymopoleia nodded slowly, “Okay, we’ll get them all.”

Tuki twisted his hand politely, “An excellent choice.”

He swept over, plucking the hair piece for my mom up and gathering up all the earrings.

“I will be but a moment,” he said. “Then I shall put the Aiprin earrings in.”

It was only a short delay before he returned, the jewelry wrapped up in kelp and seaweed packaging traded for the gold shell coins and Kymopoleia tucked the jewelry away in her pouch.

“If you would come with me for a moment, Aipri.”

I glanced at Herophile who nodded eagerly before following him back.

He sat me on a kelp seat and scooped up a jar with a paste.

“This will numb the ear, so you don’t feel the needle,” he explained.

I nodded, sitting still as he spread the paste with a sponge brush.

After a moment I could definitely tell that my ears were numb, and he picked up one of the needles.

I didn’t even feel a prick as he threaded the first earring in, then the second.

He studied them for a moment before nodding.

“Just right,” he scooped up another jar. “Apply this around the ear once a day for a week and you’ll be done.”

“Havu,” I thanked him.

He nodded, “Of course, Aipri.”

I swam out to Herophile and Kymopoleia, flushing as Herophile squealed.

“Oh it looks- it looks- um…”

“Perfect,” Kymopoleia said with a smirk.

“Yes!”

“Okay,” Kymopoleia said. “We have just enough time to get to the beauty treatment. Let’s get going!”

She thanked Tuki and ushered us out.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Kymopoleia POV**

Perseus did look great with the earrings, and also Triton is gonna murder us for them, which makes it a win-win!

Earrings are completely normal, but Triton will be angry we did it without getting his permission. He’s playing such a big brother with this one.

More important right now, beauty treatment!

I’m gonna be his favorite, if only to make Triton jealous.

I led him (and Herophile who’s absolutely delighted to be doing family bonding right now) into the beauty place.

They have some of the best treatment.

We started with the body scrubs. They’re made with concentrated salts, enchanted to not slow the time it takes to dissolve. They clean you very well. Then we spent some time in the garra rufa room, the fish eating away at all the dead skin cells.

Perseus kept giggling as they worked though, apparently, he’s ticklish.

Next was a lovely seaweed wrap mixed with a lovely thin paste that rubs in well, making you feel nice and moisturized. They have a special paste for our fins that are simply divine.

And then of course, the best part of all this, the massages.

There is simply nothing like a good massage.

“I’ve never had a massage before,” Percy murmured.

I blinked, he what?

“Well,” I said, clearing my throat. “We’re going to fix that.”

Herophile gasped, “We can do this as a sibling thing! Go get massages and stuff. It would be so fun to do like, every week.”

He blinked, “Um, every week?”

“Perhaps every other week,” I offered. “I’ll see about arranging it.”

No sibling of mine will be lacking in something as nice as a massage. Besides, I can just imagine the look on Metun face when he finds out. He won’t even be able to say no! He’s trying to look good right now.

I love it every time there’s a custody battle, we can get away with anything during that time.

“Are you sure? I mean… aren’t these expensive?”

I cooed, “Perseus, we’re royalty. We’re more than able to pay for it. And, it’s good for our subjects to spend money on things for them. We’ll cycle, there are a lot of spas so we’ll try out a variety!”

He blinked, “This is a spa? I thought it was a beauty treatment place?”

“That’s what spas are,” Herophile chirped.

He blinked slowly, “Carl told me to avoid spas at all costs.”

“Well,” I said, pretending I had any idea who Carl is. “Nothing bad will happen to you with us here. So it’ll be fine. Just only go to spas with us.”

He considered seriously for a moment, “Well… I suppose.”

“Trust me,” I assured him. “I won’t let anything happen.”

He nodded, “Alright… I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

I beamed.

I was right of course, the massages were lovely, apparently, he fell asleep during his. I’m going to introduce him to so many things, it’s going to be so much fun.

I wonder if he’d like stream surfing?

…

Yeah, he needs to try that.

“Alright! How are you feeling?”

Perseus grinned, “That was really nice!”

I smirked, “Of course.”

“We should definitely do it again,” Herophile insisted. “Like next- ugh, four letters, starts with W…”

“Week?” Perseus y asked.

“Yes!”

I nodded, “I’ll see about setting it up. Now then, the play should be starting…”

I tilted my head, tracing the tides real quick, “In twenty minutes. We should go get our spots and snag some snacks.”

Perseus perked up, “What’s the play again?”

I led the way out, thanking the workers on the way, “Momus and the Gods is a story about Zeus, Athena, and Metu. They all make things in it, and then Momus is to judge it. Only Momus is a ufanto and hates all three of them so he’s super judgey about all their creations.”

“The moral of the story,” Herophile added. “Is that some people are just rude and nothing will ever be good enough for them. You shouldn’t listen to those that judge out of envy.”

Wow, that was the most she’s said all day.

“Yeah, basically.”

Perseus looked very curious, “That sounds cool. What about the other play you mentioned?”

“Ukun Storm,” I said. “It’s about Ukun, a mer who had little power. It follows how he went from weak to strong, and then became just like those he’d hated all his life. He decided to create a massive storm to destroy everyone and everything.”

“This is Kym’s favorite,” Herophile giggled. “Because she’s in it.”

I sniffed, “According to the story, I was the one to end his storm and take his power from him, completing the cycle of his life.”

He looked awed, “Wow, did that really happen?”

I laughed, “Not as far as I remember. But it’s a fun tale.”

He nodded eagerly, “I can’t wait!”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Triton POV**

The meetings today had run long. We had a lot of arranging to do so that everyone knows exactly who harmed my brother, and how.

No one was impressed by this Luke’s actions. To attack a child like that, _especially_ when said child is unarmed (well mostly) and not fighting? That’s unforgivable.

I shook my head, better things to focus on. I’m going to show Percy the royal library! It has many books on magics he’s shown an interest on, and some very interesting story books I think he might like.

Tomorrow he’ll get to see his friends, but today I thought we could spend some time together. It’s been far too long since I got to just sit with my little brother.

I checked in his room for him, but he wasn’t there. Nor was he in the gardens. Or the dining room. Or any of the sitting rooms. Or the kitchens. Or the balconies. Or even the library.

I’m only mildly panicking, there’s no way he could come to harm here… right?

I swallowed, searching through the sitting rooms again before deciding to check the training fields. Maybe he went out a bit?

It’s fine, he’s just exploring the palace.

It’s totally fine.

He’s not at the training fields.

Okay, so I’m slightly more panicking now.

I tried to steady myself, not thinking about him laying in the healers room just a week ago.

It’s fine, he’s fine, he’s just… somewhere I haven’t checked yet.

Maybe he’s visiting the healer!

I swept there as quickly as I could, only to be disappointed to see no sign of him.

This is fine.

“Oh, hello Triton, my favorite brother.”

My eye twitched, I am not in the mood to deal with Khrysaôr.

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I was just wondering what you were doing. You’re practically swimming in circles.”

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” I muttered.

“Oh,” he followed me as I started swimming away. “And here I thought you might be looking for Perseus.”

“ _Percy_ ,” I snapped. “And yes, I was just going to get him.”

“Ah, good luck with that.”

The smugness in his tone made me pause.

I turned slowly to him, “You know where he is.”

“Do I?”

My eyes narrowed, “Khrysaôr so help me-“

“I’m being threatened!” He cried. “By my own brother! Oh how could you?”

I took a steadying breath, trying to resist the urge to punch him in the face.

“Where. Is. He.”

He grinned, “Oh, out and about.”

“Khrysaôr,” I snapped.

He just laughed. “Oh please, what do I get out of telling you? Nothing. If I don’t tell you though, I get all kinds of entertainment from you rushing around searching.”

My trident appeared in my hand, “Where is Percy.”

“Hmm,” He seemed warier now, good. “Well, maybe he’s in the library, maybe he’s at the market-“

I paled, “He left the palace!?”

Khrysaôr grinned, “Perhaps.”

He wouldn’t have done that without permission, did someone take him?

“Who took him?”

His smile widened, “Oh, maybe someone you know, maybe someone you don’t, who’s to say.”

I snarled but spun away. A guard will likely have more information.

“I’ll be sure to inform Metua of your disinterest in your brother’s safety,” I snapped.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. He’s perfectly safe.”

He has no way of knowing that! He’s out of the palace, anything could happen to him now!

I swam to find one of the perimeter guards, Khrysaôr following me and commenting on how nice the water is today, and how there was a really cool starfish on a wall, and did I hear about the new play coming out?

I’m going to stab him.

I reached the perimeter and found a guard before I gave into the urge.

“Have you seen Percy?”

The guard twisted her hand in greeting, “Yes, Aipria. He came by a few hours ago, at the very beginning of my shift. He was with Kymopoleia-ava and Herophile-ava.”

My eye twitched, “Thank you.”

I flicked away, Khrysaôr following, eyes still glinting in amusement.

As soon as I was certain none of our subjects were around to see I spun, slamming him into a wall in an instant.

“You couldn’t have informed me,” I hissed. “That our sister’s took him out?”

“But where’s the fun in that?” He asked sweetly. “I think it’s so touching how you worry for him, I was just gonna let you keep doing it.”

“You said earlier you found it entertaining,” I snarled.

“That too.”

I, once again, resisted the urge to stab him.

“ _I_ am going to get him. You are going to stay here, and not bother anyone.”

He rolled his eyes, “Those are very high expectations.”

“Then you’d best meet them,” I snapped.

I flicked my tails, shooting up and arcing out to the perimeter.

It wasn’t that long of a swim, I’m able to track my sister’s easily enough. I found them leaving a shop.

“Percy,” I called, gliding to a stop in front of him. “There you are.”

I took in his appearance, no injuries, no bandages, he doesn’t look distressed.

He’s okay.

Thank goodness.

I noticed a glint on his ears and blinked, “Did you get your ears pierced!?”

“Oh,” Kym chirped. “Do you like them? I picked them!”

“Yeah,” Percy said eagerly. “They’re pretty. She also bought some others, oh and I got some stuff for my mom-“

“And we bought clothes!” Herophile chirped.

“And we went to a spa,” Percy continued. “Do you think I could bring my mom to it sometime? I think she’d really like it-“

“We also went to a play,” Herophile said. “It was great!”

“Two plays!” Percy added excitedly. “Kym was in one!”

“Look we bought him tail ornaments, since he doesn’t have any,” Kym was digging through the kelp pouches she was holding.

“I got my mom a cool anemone, Kymopoleia said she’d show me how to make a tank for it!”

“I told you, you can call me Kym,” Kym said, a smug smile on her face as she stared at me.

I resisted the urge to yell.

“This was incredibly dangerous,” I hissed. “You didn’t bring any guards-“

“Two goddesses were here,” she pointed out. “What was gonna happen?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped. “Something could’ve! What if you’d lost him in the crowds-“

“But I didn’t.”

“Or there’d been an attack-“

“There hasn’t been one in literally hundreds of years.”

“Or he’d been tricked by someone and stolen away-“

“We wouldn’t have allowed that.”

“Or-“

“Triton, you’re overreacting.”

I took a deep breath, “He could’ve been hurt.”

“But he wasn’t! Do you have no faith in us? Honestly, he’s fine, we had fun.”

“Sorry,” Percy said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

His deep blue eyes (the same shade as his hair) peered up at me so sadly, filled with so much guilt, it was like a stab in the gut.

I swallowed, “It’s fine. You were having fun. As long as you’re safe it’s okay.”

He nodded, still looking guilty, “Okay.”

I brushed his hair back, “Well, lets get back to the castle.”

Maybe then I can calm down, just a bit. He’ll be behind safe walls again.

I wrapped an arm around him and led him back to the castle.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Poseidon POV**

Dealing with everyone and ensuring they do see Percy as my son and Prince is very stressful.

I have heard the whispers, the people wondering my son, the youngest child of mine, was the one to end the war. They wonder why I allowed him to be put at such risk.

Some wonder why I said nothing until he’d gained titles.

I will have to show over the next few months that he is my son, and not just because he did some great feat.

I didn’t acknowledge him before because I needed him hidden, but now that he’s known I can do a lot for him.

Perhaps I could send one of my Cyclops children to him for the school year… that would allow him to have a friend (and sibling) and would help keep him safe. Not many would challenge a Cyclops.

But I have to make sure I can keep him first.

By Pontus, I’m so sick of Oceanus trying to steal my kids.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Oceanus POV**

So, things weren’t going quite as I’d planned.

I hadn’t expected him to do so grand of an announcement, he hasn’t done one like that in a very long time. Only a handful of his previous demigod children got such a grand introduction. It did a lot for convincing most of his intent with his child.

And I have to leave tonight, I have matters to attend to back in my territory.

Of course, there is some hope. Many noticed how quickly me and Tethys arrived when he was injured, and quite a few were unimpressed with Percy having to do so much at such a young age.

It gives me a chance, if only a small one.

I’ll take full advantage of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of the undersea world? What did you think of Kym and Herophile? Do you like Percy's new earrings? What do you think Oceanus is going to do?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran Words~~  
> Metu=Dad  
> Metua=Father  
> Metun=Dad's  
> Mevu=Mom  
> Mevua=Mother  
> Veruov=Storm Seasons  
> Uteron Piviua=the red algae tide  
> Mairoik Upe=Cleansing Red Tide  
> Ive Mahuti Moare=North Pacific Ocean (literally Up Hot Ocean)  
> Ive Pahuti Moare=North Atlantic Ocean (literally Up Cold Ocean)  
> hetae tatu=darling brother  
> tatu=brother  
> imoteorav=mages  
> tahuhu=magic  
> Hioipihaiho=dream walking  
> Hena Potaeov=Lovely Pearls  
> Ponisi (Pearls)=Moon Pearls (source of light)  
> Ho ponuho, hamoto= one moment, please  
> Ta, Kymopoleia-ava, eaye uk otiat, y Herophile-ava=Ah, princess Kymopoleia, what an honor, and Princess Herophile  
> Noaye etav ta rav rao opu ertma=What can I do for you today?  
> Yeatula, maiv mafatu=hello, good morning  
> soha tatun=little brother's  
> sovuoti aipri=young prince  
> hav=thank you  
> maiv=good  
> uafoto=you're welcome  
> tatu=brother  
> Aiprin=Prince's  
> Aipri=Prince  
> Aipria=High Prince  
> Ufanto=bastard  
> Ukun=Uku's
> 
> ~~Suffix's~~  
> re'aia=crown prince  
> vua=sister
> 
> ~~note~~  
> Garra rufa are not a Halmaheran word, they're a species of fish


	4. Birthdays and Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I was gonna be all set to post Monday but lmao, that did not happen. Mostly because of the wreck that is my school life and me realizing I have six papers due next week. Good news! Those are done! Along with all my projects except one. I should not have any other major interruptions in the form of school now. Just two more exams and I'm done :D (for the semester).
> 
> There's a lot of Halmaheran this chapter but like... we're in the sea, it should be expected at this point. 
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/fbR7XQdTTF

I set the rainbow stone out, fingering one of my aurova, a gold sea coin that was roughly equal to a drachma in value. The rainbow slowly formed.

“Who are you calling?” Carl asked from his new magic bowl off to the side. Triton set it up.

“I’m calling mom,” I said. “I need to tell her what’s happened, and when I’m coming back.”

Metua had just confirmed that I’d be going home in a week and told me I should call my mom about it. I hadn’t realized that no one had informed her about what happened to me. Things have been so busy here I hadn’t even thought about it.

“Oh,” Carl swam around. “Tell her I say hi.”

I grinned, “Will do, Carl.”

I flipped the coin into the rainbow, murmuring my request.

The image cleared, showing my mom sitting at a table with books around her. She looked tired, her eyes a dark blue and surrounded by dark circles.

“Hi, Mom,” I said.

She jolted up, knocking over a book as she stood, “Percy?”

She stared at me in surprise, and I flushed, fingering my bracelet.

“Hi Mom… Carl says hi…”

“Oh, Percy, are you okay? You never replied and I wasn’t sure-“

“I’m okay. I’m at Metuan palace.”

“Metuan?”

I blinked, “Oh, uh, Father’s, um, Poseidon’s… sorry.”

“No, it’s fine… why are you there?”

I blinked, did no one contact her? Guess I’ll have to explain it all.

And I did.

I told her about the rest of the summer, and how it ended with Luke trying to kill me. I told her about using the pearl to escape and being healed in the sea. I talked about the almost week spent recovering, and another week preparing for the announcement. I told her about the announcement, how I’d gotten the bands, then she wanted to see them, so I showed her them.

“Those are really lovely, Percy,” she murmured.

I grinned, “Yeah, I like them a lot.”

“Are you having fun in the sea?”

“Yeah, Triton is great, and I missed my friends. It’s really cool at the palace too, and Kymopoleia and Herophile took me out for a shopping trip and spa day-“

“Spa!?” Carl cried.

“-it was so cool. And the spa had all these fancy things they do, and uh, the pool thing was super nice, and they did massages! Oh! And Kymopoleia let me get my ears pierced, look!”

I brushed my hair back to show her my ears with the blue pearl earrings.

“They’re lovely Percy,” she said softly, her gaze sad. “I’m glad you like the sea.”

“Yeah, it’s really great here, but I’m glad I’m going home next week.”

She blinked, “Oh? You’re going back to Camp?”

I tilted my head, “No? I’m going home to you… unless you didn’t want me coming back-“

“No, no,” she said quickly, a smile stretching across her lips. “You’re of course welcome back. I’ll make the arrangements for school.”

I beamed, “Okay. Oh yeah, Triton said he needed to talk to you about lesson things, and Metua mentioned tutors… But they both said I didn’t need to worry about it.”

She frowned, studying me, “Of course, don’t worry, I’ll talk with them.”

I nodded, “I think you’d like the spa! I asked Triton if you could come next time-“

“You’re going back!?” Carl screeched.

I ignored him for the moment, “-and he said maybe!”

She smiled, “I’m glad you’re having fun. You’re coming back next week?”

“Yeah, Triton said that there was something today, but otherwise I don’t have anything to do officially, at least I don’t think so…”

Mom nodded, “Well, I’ll make sure I’m free…”

“Six days from now,” I said. “Er well… that’s six days undersea… but we go by a slightly different clock… it’s still roughly six days though… probably.”

“Alright, I’ll just clear six and seven days from now, so September second and third. Did you do anything for your birthday?”

I blinked, oh right, my birthday did happen… forgot about that. “No, I was still recovering then, wasn’t allowed out of bed.”

She frowned, “Well, we’ll do something for your birthday, better late than never.”

I beamed, “Really?”

“Yeah, we’ll get some cake, have a nice dinner…”

“That sounds nice.”

“I’ll set it up,” she murmured, glancing down at her work.

“Oh, I guess you need to finish that,” I rubbed my neck. “I’ll see you in a week, mom.”

“See you in a week. Love you, Percy.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

The image dissolved, and I tucked the rainbow stone away, only to wince as Carl swam in circles.

“You went to a spa!?” He snapped. “After all the times I warned you!?”

“Kymopoleia _and_ Herophile were there,” I argued. “They wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

“Spas are dangerous! They’re traps. You’ll get taken in and given fancy drinks and then you’ll die! Or worse…”

I leaned against the dresser, crossing my arms and dropping my head on them.

“It’s fine, Carl. I wasn’t hurt at all, see?”

He swam agitated, “Fine, but when you get turned into a pig or killed, I warned you.”

I huffed, “I won’t go to any spas without Herophile or Kymopoleia, how about that?”

He stared at me, quiet for a long moment. “Sure, it’s your life.”

I frowned when he turned away, surely it wasn’t that bad? My sisters were with me, They’re Goddesses after all…

“You’re not ready yet?”

I turned at the voice, finding Rhodos in my doorway, a frown on her face.

“The party is in less than 30 ioma!”

“Uh, party?”

“Yes, for your amawa,” she said studying my room from the door.

“My birthday?” I asked. “There’s a party for it?”

“Yes, in less than thirty ioma, you need to get ready.”

I blinked, “Wait, how do I dress for that?”

“Ugh, I told Metu to send a siona to help you,” she shook her head. “May I enter?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

She swept in, tails flicking as she moved to my drawers.

“Not that one, no not that one either, definitely not that,” she shifted through the assorted pieces in the drawer.

“Ah, these earrings,” she passed me the mother of pearl earrings shaped like conch shells. I moved to the mirror to try and change them out, I haven’t done that before.

“Then lets see, oh yes, this aetapi,” she tossed me one of the two pairs tail ornamentations that Herophile picked out. It was a pretty silver and had carvings of shells on it.

“Oh um,” I finally got the first earring in and moved to the second. “Did Mevuta like the necklace I got her?”

I bought it as a whole… ‘sorry Metua cheated on you’ gift but was a bit too nervous to give it to her myself. Triton promised to pass it along.

“She thought it was lovely,” Rhodos mumbled. “Ah, this hair piece.”

She swam over, “I’m going to fix up your hair, get the aetapiv on.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling up one tail to fasten the first aetapi on my tail, right where the tail becomes fin.

She began twisting my hair into a few small braids, “Oceanus-ari and Tethys-ran left last pohur, very late. They offered apologies for being unable to see you before they left. They did leave gifts for your birthday. You’ll get them at the party.”

It’s sad that they left already, I never even got to ask Tethys-ran about a way to handle the sensations.

At least they’re easier to handle in the sea.

She twisted the braided and non-braided hair all into a bun, sliding the silver and pearl hair pin in. “There, that should hold.”

“Thank you,” I said softly, peering up at nervously.

She studied me for a moment before nodding, “Of course. I would be remiss in my duties to not help.”

I nodded, that makes sense.

“So, uh, where is this… party?”

She sighed, “I’ll bring you.”

“Thank you, oh wait,” I swam over to Carl, who was pointedly facing the other way. “Do you wanna come?”

“No.”

I bit my lip, yeah, he’s mad.

“Okay, I’ll bring you back something to eat.”

He didn’t look at me.

“Ready?” Rhodos asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

“The family will be joining in a bit, we thought we’d let you spend some time with your friends and acquaintances first.”

I nodded as I stared around the room in awe. It was one I hadn’t been to before, so I’m not sure how it normally looks, but right now the modestly sized room was dotted with table coral and had a long table against one wall with assorted foods and taipanu. The walls shone with manisi pearls and glowing anemone were scattered across the floor like a carpet.

On the far side of the room was a table that held assorted items wrapped in seaweed.

But what caught my eye was not the decoration, but the merfolk in the room, a grin stretching across my lips.

“Samoa! Elei, Masina!” I swam over to them.

“Percy-aia,” Elei said with a nod. “How nice to see you again, I heard you had many a fight this summer.”

I twisted my hands in greeting, “I did, more than my fair share.”

Samoa twisted her hand, a far more respectful greeting than she’d given me before.

“We missed seeing you,” she said. “Fetu and Lagi told us some of you summer, but not much.”

“Oh,” Masina nudged the two mermaids. “We can talk about his summer later. It’s good to see you again, Percy-aia.”

“And you as well, Masina-iaimora.”

“We did miss you,” Samoa said. “We’re very glad you’re safe.”

“I missed all of you as well,” I murmured as Fetu and Lagi swam over, Fetu flashing me a smile.

“Oati Amawa, Percy,” Fetu chirped.

“Yes,” Elei said. “That is the purpose of us all being gathered here. Your Amawa. May it be a happy one.”

I laughed, “My Amawa was nearly two mavuho ago. But thank you.”

“Oati hoviti amawa,” Samoa said.

The others mimicked her, wishing me a happy birthday even though it was two weeks late.

“Havu,” I thanked them.

“So, food,” Lagi said. “Come, there’s some fabulous tuna over there.”

I grinned and let Lagi tug me over, the others joining as we gathered some snacks and snagged a few taipanu.

“So, what’s the land camp like?” Elei asked. “What are their training procedures? Who was your supervisor on your quest? How did you get permission to go on a quest so young?”

I coughed, “Ah, well, um, you see…”

“If Aipri was there then it must’ve been the best camp,” said a vaguely familiar mer, who swam over to join us.

“Avel,” Elei nodded to Avel. “And of course, but I’ve never been to the land camp, and I’ve only heard rumors of it.”

She turned back to me, “So what’s it like.”

“Well… The training is done by cabin, and your split into cabins based on your parent.”

“So, all the sea demigods are put together, that seems nice,” Samoa mused.

“That’s unfortunately not how it works… Only the twelve Olympians have cabins, all the other Gods children are in the Hermes cabin.”

They blinked, “But why don’t they have cabins? Why don’t they split you up based on skills like Camp Tetomoa?”

I shrugged, “They have the system they use. It’s annoying, Leilani was claimed the other day by Psamathe, but she has to stay in the Hermes cabin.”

I frowned, “I meant to ask Metua about that.”

“You should, that system sounds frustrating.”

I nodded, “Extremely.”

“Okay, but what the quest, how did you get to go when you’re only twelve? Were the other two members older? Did you have a supervisor?”

“Well,” I sucked some tea from the taipanu. “Grover is technically twenty… something in satyr years, though he’s only twelve in mortal years…”

“Ah, so then the other one was the supervisor?”

“Er, Annabeth is also twelve.”

“Was she some immortal being?”

“She’s a daughter of Athena,” I offered.

They all made faces.

“I’m so sorry you got trapped on a quest with a child of _Athena_ ,” Elei said.

I shifted, “Annabeth is pretty cool, I couldn’t have done the quest without her.”

“I’m sure she was useful,” Masina agreed. “But it’s a shame that you couldn’t have brought someone less…”

“Mocking to Triton-re'aia,” Lagi offered.

They murmured in agreement.

Of course, I know some about it. Athena and Triton and their fight… and Pallas… I know that Triton still has a problem with her, something that she’s doing now, but I never really asked. Now it would be awkward to.

I coughed, “Yes… but she was a great help, and I count her as a friend.”

“Of course,” Fetu soothed. “I’m sure she was lovely. We can’t hold her Mevuan crimes against her.”

The others nodded.

“So,” it was just the three of you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just us three.”

“They must’ve given you excellent supplies then!” said another mer.

I made a quick note that the other mers in the room had drifted over. I think the mer that spoke was named Coaxoch, her shark tail swishing slowly as she circled slowly.

“Well, they gave us a hundred mortal dollars and like ten drachmas.”

“How much is that in aipata?” Masona said with a frown as they tried to convert the money to the sea currency.

“Um, that would be…” I mentally calculated it, one aipata is about two dollars… roughly, so that would be about fifty aipata, or one silava and five nohuva. “It would be about fifty aipata.”

“So they gave you a silava basically?” Elei asked in disbelief.

“Well we also got twenty drachmas,” I said, though I didn’t think very much of the money we’d been given either.

“Oh lovely, so twenty aurova, so you got about three hundred fifty aipata to go on a quest across the land to stop a war,” Fetu said, his eye twitching.

“I thought that the land camp was supposed to be good,” muttered a girl, I think I recognize her, but her and Samoa don’t get along.

“Now, now,” Lagi said. “They must’ve given him some sort of supplies?”

I flicked my tail, studying the taipanu in my hand.

“Your land camp is horrible,” Avel said. “Why did Poseidon-re’ore send you there?”

“It’s the laws of the land,” I said. “And closer to my mom.”

“Hmm, so how did the quest go?”

“Uh…” I thought back to the multiple near-death experiences in the first day alone. “It was fine.”

“Oh, what about your teacher?” Lorenzo (I recognize him from a few of the events we’ve been to) asked. “Does she live on land?”

Why did Triton invite mers I don’t know? I mean, I suppose I can recognize all of them from previous events, but I’m not close to them like with my five friends.

“Uh-“

“Is she even real?” Asked… I cannot for the life of me remember their name. A mer with dark orange hair and purple and orange scales was looking at me with a faint sneer.

“Of course she’s real,” chided… I think xer name is Rosa? I haven’t talked to xem for a while, but xey know a lot about sea magics so we’ve had conversations about it before. “He wouldn’t have been able to learn as much as he did without a teacher.”

“Katara is… real, but not alive.”

“She died!?” Atl cried as Fetu took my hand with a worried look.

“No, no,” I reassured quickly. “She was just never alive. She’s a fictional character from a TV show.”

“Like HTV?” the one who’s name I couldn’t remember said.

I blinked, “The channel?”

“Hephaestus television,” Rosa said. “I assume the TV is just television for you?”

“Oh, yeah,” I nodded. “On land we just call it television, there is a channel called HTTV that had be confused for a moment. But yeah, like that. She’s not living person, but she’s brilliant.”

“What is she from then?” Fetu asked.

“The show called Avatar! It’s so good, you should watch it… er… I guess you don’t get the channel on HTV.”

They shook their heads.

“Oh, well… it’s a good show.”

“So uh, Rosa,” I hope I got xer name right as I aimed to change the subject. “How have you been?”

Xey lit up, beginning to talk excitedly about xer lessons and how xey’d gained an apprenticeship at Camp Tetomoa (in Atlantis) for xer prophecy.

I smiled and asked questions, leading the conversation away from me to catch up with the mers. Hopefully they don't bring up the quest again.

Eventually someone used the one mers name, the one I couldn’t remember, when Tutaki (the mer) was debating whether he was better at the Siren’s Song than Fetu or not.

He’s really not, Fetu is amazing at it.

I hid a grin when Fetu politely told them to go swim in a halocline, they’re undersea rivers of like rocks and mud. Really dangerous, I’m not allowed near them.

I relaxed, delighting in spending time with my friends for the first time in ages. Samoa was acting a bit strange though, keeping quieter than usual and being very respectful.

“Are you feeling alright, Samoa?” I asked when we’d drifted apart from the others for a moment.

I peered at her worriedly, was she feeling sick?

“Yes, Percy-aia, you need not worry.”

“Are you-“

“Percy-aia,” said Atl, swimming over. “I was wondering if you’d seen the new aipone released on the purification sequences? They’re really interesting-“

“They’re nonsense,” Samoa said. “They messed up the sequence for stabilizing a damaged sand dollar.”

“No, it looks right,” Atl countered with a frown. “But it’s okay, I know it would be a bit of struggle for one such as you to understand. You weren’t able to _buy_ a copy after all.”

My gaze flicked between them, a frown on my face.

“I don’t need to buy one, I looked at it at Burl’s shop. It’s wrong, they messed up the ivuis, got the lines entirely wrong, and managed to-“

“Look, I’m the one in line for the apprenticeship with Tuluvas-fu’vak. I know what I’m talking about, petulu.”

Samoa’s cheeks flushed, and my eyes narrowed at the insult.

“Samoa is more than capable of getting an internship with Tuluvas-fu’vak,” I said fiercely. I recognized the name of course. Tuluvas is the author of multiple books on purification, recognized as one of the best in the Pahuti Moare, if not the entire Huti Moare.

“Percy-aia,” Avl said sweetly. “I know that she’s a dear friend of yours but-“

I scowled, “She’s remarkably skilled and has helped me improve my own skills quite a bit. Do not use such… words for her.”

Avl faltered, “Of course, Percy-aia.”

She raised her chin, swimming away.

“What’s this aipone that was released?” I asked Samoa.

She blinked, her white hair flowing around her like a veil as she stared at me. “Avl does have better chances of getting the apprenticeship… Her family has connections.”

“And you’ll get it without needing those, is that why you’ve been acting strange?”

She looked away, “You’re the prince. I’m nowhere near the ranking of the rest of them, I’ve only been allowed at the oftmapa because I’m skilled in purification, and Avl is just as skilled as me.”

I blinked, struggling for a moment to understand. My rank is what has her worried?

“Samoa, you’re one of my friends. I’m not going to abandon you just because I’m a prince…”

Did she really think me so shallow?

“I know, of course, but you’re far above me,” she chewed her lip. “It isn’t proper for me to speak to you casually.”

I huffed, I know all the manners but… “You’re my friend. Fetu and Lagi speak to me casually-“

“They’re the highest ranked mers here besides you,” she pointed out.

Okay, that is fair.

“Samoa, you’re an amazing Vakasta, and an amazing friend. You don’t need to be proper with me, unless it’s some big event. This is just my amawa.”

She studied me for a long moment, her pale eyes intense, before relaxing, “If you say so, Percy-ai-“

I shot her a sour look and she laughed.

“If you say so, Percy.”

“I do,” I said with a nod.

“So,” she trailed off for a moment.

“The aipone?”

She grinned and began tearing apart the apparently horrifically done aipone. She went into detail explaining all the issues it had, and how the one sequence would ruin the sand dollar it was trying to fix, and how another was clearly transcribed wrong because two of the ivuis were the wrong shapes.

I relaxed as she talked, her face brighter than it’d been all night.

Glad that was handled.

Samoa talked at length about the aipone, then we started talking about the apprenticeship. Apparently Avl and her had been competing for it for some time, along with some others but the others weren’t as worrisome for Avl and Samoa.

Avl had the family connections to aid her that Samoa lacked.

“Why did she try to interrupt us?” I wondered. I’m not close with Avl at all, and certainly wouldn’t help her get the apprenticeship, so what’s up with that?

“Probably because she was worried I would try to get you to help me,” Samoa said.

I blinked, oh. I hadn’t even thought of that. I am the prince, I could help Samoa.

“I don’t want your help though,” Samoa declared. “If I get the apprenticeship then I did it under my own skill, and even though it will be harder… if you helped me I’d be all but guaranteed it, regardless of my skill. I want to know that I am worthy of it.”

I smiled, “Of course.”

“Percy,” Lagi said as we rejoined the group. “You were talking about wanting to learn healing before, yes?”

I nodded, “Yeah. I can heal myself, but it would’ve been a big help to know more than the basics when we were on the quest.”

Lagi’s eyes gleamed, “What do you know already?”

Fetu snickered, shooting me a grin as I faltered.

“Um…”

“Right, so you need to know the basics before you can begin lessons, I can give you some tips but there’s a lot to know. You’ll need to learn all the bones, and the differences in structure amongst mer, and of course since you’re planning on healing humans you’ll need to know that as well, plus satyrs as you mentioned one-“

Lagi began rambling on about everything I need to learn, going into details on the mer body that made my head spin.

Oh dear, this does not seem as easy as purification. I can’t just copy Katara?

Lagi’s lecture lasted forever, Fetu leaning against me and chiming in on occasion with more “fun facts”.

Elei finally cleared her throat, interrupting Lagi as he began to go on another rant about different types of seaweed and their uses in bandages.

“Will you be attending one of the camps?” She asked politely.

“Metua and Triton have been talking about it,” I said. “But they haven’t decided on the details yet.”

“You’ll have to train with me,” Elei said. “You mustn’t get complacent.”

“Oh!” Fetu brightened suddenly. “How has your Siren’s Song been going? Can you coax some plants into growing?”

“Yeah,” I said eagerly. “I even managed to put the Kerberos to sleep with a song and talked Medusa out of killing us-“

“Sorry,” he pulled away to look at me. “ _Talked_?”

I coughed, “It was an accident.”

He stared at me for a long moment, “We’ll be going over safety procedures for Siren’s Song later.”

I nodded, ducking my head and trying to push down the embarrassed flush. 

We talked for a while longer before a hand landed on my shoulder.

I jolted, looking up to see Triton there.

“It’s time for the ofupanemit,” Triton said fondly.

The what?

“This is the first time you’ve celebrated your birthday undersea,” Triton mused. “So I’m not sure if you’ve had one before. Ofupanemit is similar to the cakes you have on land, but better.”

I nodded, letting him lead me over to one of the table corals, the largest in the room. In the center was something that did kinda remind me of a cake. It looked like some sort of Jell-O and berry mixture, but it didn’t look quite like Jell-O.

The ofupanemit held a thin coral branch with bioluminescent algae twisted around it.

Triton nudged me to the front and I realized the other members of the family were here as well, Metua and Mevuta, and Benthesikymê, Rhodos, Herophile, Kymopoleia, and even Khrysaôr.

“Now then,” Metua said. “It’s time to sing the amawa himne.”

The mers circled around me and the table and began to sing.

_“Muhopuk tiun ert poresoniv_

_Are ert haumuk ri ert movae_

_Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu_

_Ika ert wasare parutupina opu fare_

_Topta meye muvup, topta meye muhop_

_Ri era otima mana_

_Uti tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu_

_Ert moare emuk muhop pora hatevna_

_Amana porano ert pavu_

_La maru tamapu av ert wasare_

_Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu_

_Eaye em y eaye meye ela_

_Ro y mir elipo ika ert pyev_

_Ert mavuotiv meye muhop y muvaku_

_Uti tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu_

_Y hovi naeye opu meye ivuso_

_La Muhopuk tiun ert poresoniv_

_Are ert haumuk ri ert movae_

_Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu_

_Ert wasare emuk parutup opu fare”_

I sniffed, grinning at them as they finished. That’s such a pretty birthday song! The one on land is so boring in comparison.

Metua cut the ofupanemit, handing out slices to everyone (with all the other mers thanking him a lot and doing a lot of motions of respect).

I took a bite, brightening at the sweetness. The only really sweet thing (like land sweet) that I’d had in the sea was tea and some of the berries, but the ofupanemit was very sweet.

I happily took another bite, trying to figure out the texture. It was like really dense Jell-O, but like, almost like… some sort of light cake at the same time? But no bread texture. It’s hard to describe, but not bad. The berry pieces added some extra flavor too.

“Ofupanemit are pretty good,” Triton said with a smirk. “It’s been a long time since I had one…”

He got a far away look for a moment, before he blinked and smiled back at me.

I grinned, “Yeah, it’s really tasty.”

“Now of course,” Kym draped an arm around my shoulders, her tails stretched out behind her. “It’s time for the best part of any amawa.”

“Presents!” Herophile cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of his talk with his mom? What about Carl? What did you think of his birthday so far?
> 
> Also, please appreciate the three sentences on the money system, I spent three hours doing research and setting that up.
> 
> ~~Halmaheran Words~~  
> Aurova=golden sea coin  
> Metua=Father  
> Metuan=Father's  
> Ioma=sea version of minutes  
> Metu=Dad  
> Siona=servant  
> Aetapi=tail ornamentation  
> Mevuta=Step-Mom  
> Aetapiv=Tail ornamentation*s*  
> Pohur=night (as the sea categorizes it)  
> Taipanu=the sea sponge cups  
> Manisi (pearls)=sun pearls  
> Oati Amawa= Happy Birthday  
> Amawa=Birthday  
> Mavuho=sea weeks  
> Oati Hoviti Amawa=Happy Late Birthday  
> Hovu=Thank you  
> Aipri=Prince  
> Camp Tetomoa=The undersea camp in Atlantis  
> Mevuan=Mother's  
> Aipata=undersea currency  
> Silava=Silver coins (worth 45 aipata)  
> nohuva= Nickel sea coins (1 aipata)  
> Aurova=golden sea coin (15 aipata)  
> Aipone=thin sheets of stone used for longlasting works that are not valuable enough for the ink and paper  
> Ivuis=sea runes  
> Petulu=Land locked idiot (basically)  
> oftmapa= The name of the events that Percy had been going to with Triton  
> Vakasta= Purifier  
> ofupanemit=undersea version of cake  
> Amawa Himne=birthday song
> 
> ~~Suffixes~~  
> -ari=old king  
> -ran=old queen  
> -aia=prince  
> -iaimora=apprentice mage  
> -re'aia=crown prince  
> -re'ore=high king  
> -fu'vak=master purifier mage
> 
> Now, I spent an hour and a half translating the english version of this song to Halmaheran, it was hard, please be in awe of the work. Also, a special thanks to Maedhbh-tiu on the server for writing the english version.  
> ~~The Song Translation~~  
> Coming from the darkest depths  
> Or the riding on the foam  
> Let the currents circle round  
> As the sea calls you home
> 
> All will gather, all will come  
> Upon this special day  
> So let the currents circle round  
> The ocean’s come to play 
> 
> Born unto the water  
> Oh sweet child of the sea  
> Let the currents circle round  
> What is and what will be
> 
> In and out just as the tides  
> The years will come and go  
> So let the currents circle round  
> And see how you will grow
> 
> Oh, coming from the darkest depths  
> Or the riding on the foam  
> Let the currents circle round  
> The sea has called you home


	5. Gifting Foals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Presents! And some other important scenes :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, so so excited for this scene. Like, I've been so excited for one of these scenes forever, it's been written since July (though edited to fit the stuff that's been written since).
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord:

We moved to the table coral covered in presents and I ushered to the front.

“Now,” Triton said. “I’m certain that all these are wonderful presents, but I thought perhaps it would be best to receive mine first, seeing how it’s not wrapped.”

I perked up, “Not wrapped?”

“Well,” he smirked. “It’s a bit hard to wrap.”

He made a motion to someone behind me and one of the guards swam forward, something cradled in their hands.

My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

“An octopus!”

“A coconut octopus, to be precise,” Triton said.

I cooed at the reddish-brown octopus that curled in the guards hands. It’s little tentacles poked around as it seemed to look around.

“She isn’t named yet,” Triton said. “What would you like to name her?”

I gently scooped her out of the guards hand, they slipped back to one of the walls.

“She’s so pretty,” I murmured as her tentacles curled around my fingers tightly. She was easily small enough to fit in my hands, and so cute too, but her tentacles were strong. “Maybe… Hippolyta?”

“Like the amazon?” Triton mused. “That sounds good.”

I beamed, gently petting her head. “Nice to meet you Hippolyta.”

“Oh, she’s adorable. I want an octopus,” Samoa said. “But my parents are shark people.”

“Ouch,” Rosa said. “Everyone knows Octopi are the best.”

I laughed as it started a debate, Avel and Atl being very insistent that sharks are better, but Rosa and Samoa were standing strong on octopi being the best.

I rolled my eyes as Fetu passed me a present, Hippolyta being moved to my shoulder for the moment.

“Here,” he said. “Open this one.”

I almost cried when I opened what was labeled as from Lagi to realize that it was a bunch of books.

Books on mer biology, individual ones on bones, nervous system, circulatory system, and scale and fins. Plus, a side one on how undersea magic interacts with those systems based on how it’s drawn forth. And then the books on undersea treatment, one for both fauna and flora and their properties and uses in medicine, plus a book on undersea medicine, and a book on magical treatments in a basic manner.

Oh no.

“Oh,” Lagi beamed. “I see you’ve opened mine.”

Triton was snickering, traitor.

“Now you’ll be able to begin studying medicine like you said you wanted.”

He looked very pleased with himself for his gift, I didn’t have the heart to tell him this made me wanna cry.

“Thanks,” I said, glad that I was underwater to lighten the weight of the books. Hippolyta tried to poke at one of the books with a tentacle. “I’ll make sure to read through them.”

“Oh, there’s also another gift beneath the books.”

I shuffled them around, noticing a small stone.

“It will give a boost in healing done when the person being healed is holding it. Stimulates recovery, increases speed of skin growth, that sort of thing. It’s re-chargeable in terms of power as well, but takes a lot so be careful if you decide to try.”

I nodded, studying the stone curiously. It had a few ivuisav carved on it that felt curling and warm. I suppose that they are what give it the power.

“Havu, Lagi.”

He twisted his hand in acknowledgement.

Hippolyta tugged on the stone with her little tentacles, having curled down my arm. I let her take it, she moved back up to sit on my shoulder, hugging her new stone.

The debate on octopi versus sharks seemed over, though neither side seemed to have won, which led to Atl passing me her gift.

I carefully pealed back the dyed seaweed (a nice shade of white) and revealed an intricately made journal a deep blue with shining silver etching that looks like waves curling around a shining emerald trident.

Hippolyta reached for the seaweed, so I passed her a strip. Her little tentacles clung to the stone and seaweed.

“Havu,” I said politely, in part because it is pretty, and in part because that’s basic manners. Even though I don’t like how she spoke to Samoa.

I hesitated, do I just keep putting the unwrapped gifts back on the table? I suppose.

“Perhaps mine next, taeae soha tatu,” Khrysaôr said with a bright smile.

I nodded, letting him pass me a present wrapped in sparkling seaweed.

It was two presents, one long and thin, the other short and boxed.

I opened the long and thin one first, peeling it away to reveal a spear. It’s a nice spear? But I don’t need another weapon… and I don’t use a spear anyways. Does Khrysaôr use a spear?

I stiffened as the waters shifted, pressing down heavy on me as I heard Triton snarl.

“Khrysaôr-“

“It’s designed off of the goddess of war’s!” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “It’s very well made too.” He looked very pleased with himself as he hid behind Metua.

Triton looked ready to stab him with his trident.

“It’s also poisoned!” Khrysaôr added with a big grin.

“Perhaps we should hold off on that for Percy,” Poseidon said delicately. “He’s a tad young for a poisoned spear.”

“Yeah,” Triton snapped. “Maybe when he’s six-hundred.”

“Oh fine,” Khrysaôr said. “But I got him two things.”

He smirked at me, “Open the second.”

I let Triton take the spear, and make it vanish, before unwrapping the second box.

I studied the wood container, a bottle visible through the glass front. It was shaped interestingly, with a thick base that narrowed than got larger again. The bottle was filled with some red liquid.

“What’s,” I squinted to read the cursive styled writing. “Ass-om-bro-so-Reserve-ah Del Poor-toe?”

“AsomBroso Reserva Del Porto,” Khrysaôr chirped as Hippolyta slipped down my arm to poke at it. “It’s the best tasting tequila around.”

“Oh,” I considered for a moment. Does the sea have underage drinking laws?

“NO!” Triton cried, diving for it. “You are far too young for this!”

“Oh, let the kid live,” Khrysaôr cooed. “He deserves a break, a nice drink, some relaxation. It’s good for him.”

“Go rot in Tartarus you petulu.”

“Ouch,” Khrysaôr placed a hand to his chest as Poseidon groaned. “That hurts.”

“Children-“ Poseidon started.

“Do you have no sense!? He’s thirteen!”

“And that’s the right age to begin drinking! Honestly, it’s a shame he hasn’t had a drink yet.”

“You-“

“Enough!” Poseidon cried. “Khrysaôr, get your brother an age appropriate gift. Triton, put the trident away.”

“Wow,” Tutaki muttered. “That’s… something.”

“Percy,” Poseidon held out a hand. “I’ll take the…”

“AsomBroso Reserva Del Porto,” Khrysaôr said helpfully.

“Yes… that.”

I handed it over, not willing to fight about it. Hippolyta tried to cling to it as Metua took it away though, I had to coax her back.

“Now then,” Poseidon said. “How about you open another present.”

“Mine is nothing inappropriate,” Masina said primely, offering another seaweed wrapped box.

I accepted it, carefully peeling away the yellow shaded seaweed to reveal some carefully rolled pipone and a current board. I unrolled the ocean paper, revealing detailed maps.

“They’re maps of the currents,” Masina said. “The most detailed out currently. They’re also updated, showing the current speeds and danger levels and which ones are best for quick travel along with markings for best exits.”

“Wow,” I said. “This is very interesting. Havu.”

“I think you know what a current board is,” they teased. “I thought I could teach you.”

Triton’s eye was twitching and Khrysaôr gave me a thumbs up.

“That sounds great,” I chirped, ignoring both of them as I studied the large shell board.

They looked pleased.

I carefully set the presents aside to reach for the next one.

This one was a teal shade, and the name on it marked it as from Mavuta. Amphitrite- got me something?

I carefully peeled the wrapping off, revealing arm braces. They were intricately made, with mini krakens patterned on each of them. They felt light as a feather despite their weight.

“They’re enchanted to be light and to be gentle on your arms,” Amphitrite said coolly. “To ensure comfort while keeping your arms protected.”

“Havua,” I murmured.

She flicked her fingers.

“Do mine next!” Herophile said, drifting forward. “It’s great.”

“Sure,” I agreed, reaching for the one she pointed to.

I carefully unwrapped the pretty blue seaweed, revealing an interesting circle… thing.

I had multiple parts decorated with lines, and they shifted when I picked it up.

I hummed, twisting one and noticing the lines on it shifting as well.

“Oh,” I mumbled. “It’s a puzzle.”

“Yes!” Herophile cheered. “It’s the- the-“ she frowned “-four letters, starts with b, greatest-“

“Best?” Kymopoleia asked.

“Yes!” Herophile beamed. “It’s the best puzzle ever.”

I tried to make the lines match up but frowned when they wouldn’t.

“That’s the first step, it has a lot of parts as you work your way through. In the very center is a prize!”

I studied it with a frown, “This is hard.”

“Yep, but you’ll get it.”

I wanted to spend my time on the puzzle, but I reluctantly put it with the rest of the gifts to reach for another present. I should get through them, so everyone stops staring at me (well, and Triton who’s still glaring at Khrysaôr).

I picked a random present, it’s wrapping a nice green, but like, light. It held a label saying it was from Lorenzo, and when I peeled it open I found a box.

I carefully opened the box to reveal and intricate platinum and coral necklace. The coral curled around the platinum that helped weigh it down. The coral was a blend of blues and purples and pinks.

“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s lovely.”

Lorenzo twisted his hand, “I am glad that you like it. It is the current best style, and you seemed to be lacking in necklaces.”

“Havu, I think it’s lovely.”

I closed the box once more, carefully pulling Hippolyta away when she tried to poke her tentacles in it and then placed the necklace on top of the medical books before reaching for another present.

This one was once more in two pieces, the red seaweed listing it as from Elei.

I peeled back the wrapping on the first and grinned as I recognized the style of the armor pieces inside. They’re like my chest plate (that I still haven’t used). These were different though, smaller and much more flexible.

“They’re for your tail, on the joint,” Elei explained. “To keep it shielded from attacks.”

“Oh, havu. This will be useful.”

She smirked, “You’ll need them in sparring.”

I grinned back, she’s gonna make me suffer, before opening the second piece. This one held a box, much like the one from Lorenzo. Opening the box revealed a small silver and pearl comb. It had multiple slightly wavy teeth that connected to a shining silver crescent moon, the ‘horns’ of the moon faced down, leaving the curve as the top of the comb.

“It’s sharpened at the top,” Elei said. “So it can be used as a weapon if needed.”

“Oh!” I grinned. “Like Drew’s!”

“Drew?”

“She’s a daughter of Aphrodite, and she has a comb like this. Havu, I really like it.”

Elei twisted her hand, “Of course.”

I put the hair comb with the armor, reaching for another present as I noticed Hippolyta curling in the armor piece with her stone and seaweed piece (looks like she’s collected more too). That's so cute.

This one was from Avel, and when I opened the grey wrapping paper I found books on obscure history of the deeps.

Oh yay, more books.

“It’s about the history of the deepest corners of the ocean,” Avel said. “I found it utterly fascinating, there’s a lot written that isn’t talked about much. There’s even some about Pontus-re’ari in there.”

Well that does sound kinda interesting. “Havu,” I murmured as I read the summary on the back.

“That sounds interesting,” Triton mused, leaning over to look at it (and ceasing his glaring at Khrysaôr). “Ah, it’s by Hesios, he always does have some interesting takes.”

I grinned, passing it over to Triton instead of putting it with the rest of the books. “It does sound interesting.”

He hummed, flipping it open.

Okay, so now… the present pile had fallen quite a bit, leaving only nine left.

I picked up another one, reading the label to see it’s from Rosa.

I unwrapped the gold seaweed, revealing a stone box. I opened the box, revealing a set of brushes and coral markers and ink sponges and even some small bowls.

“It’s a full calligraphy set,” xey said. “I’m sure that you can get your own, but this set also includes the mixer bowls, which I don’t see often. If you ever get interested in customizing some inks, those a huge help.”

“Havu,” I said politely. This does seem cool, I’ve never thought about customizing inks before. Maybe I can learn something about that. Could xey teach me?

I closed the lid once more, setting it with the rest of the gifts, then grabbed another present.

This one said it was from Rhodos and was also a nice gold shaded seaweed. I unwrapped it and revealed an amazing statue. It was carved from some sort of blue stone (or multiple?) and looked like a wave right before it would crash down but seemed to shine like the sun was behind it. In the wave were a pair of dolphins mid jump.

“Wow,” I murmured. “Havu.”

“Uafoto,” she replied.

I carefully wrapped it once more, just to be safe, then reached for another present.

This one was wrapped and covered in small holes, labeled as from Tutaki. I curiously opened it, revealing a small blue and silver coral.

“It’s a new coral,” Tutaki said. “We thought you might like a small addition to your area.”

I dipped my head, holding it up in fascination.

“We aren’t entirely sure of all of it’s properties, but it is one hundred percent safe.”

“Havu,” I said. “I’ll take good care of it.”

“Of course,” Tutaki said.

Well, that’s another three down. Only six more to go!

I opened the next, listed as from Kymopoleia. Inside was a small kelp net, and held in the net was a small… spinning top?

“Oh no,” Triton muttered.

“And that, darling Perseus,” Kymopoleia said brightly. “Is the tool you’ll need for learning how to make storms.”

“Kym-“

“It’s going to be wonderful,” She said happily. “I’ll teach you how it works later.”

I nodded, curious despite myself. “Alright, that sounds interesting.”

Triton groaned, Metua sighed.

“Open the next present,” Herophile chirped.

I dipped my head, reaching for another present and grinning when I saw it was from Fetu. This one had two parts like some previous ones.

I peeled back the silvery green seaweed on the first one to reveal a book. I perked up, it’s about the Siren’s Song!

“You said you’d improved,” Fetu said. “So, I thought I’d give you the info on the next step.”

“Havu!” I cheered, flipping it open.

Triton laughed, “Read it later, finish opening the presents now.”

I sighed but nodded, placing the book down to open the second part. There was a small stone box inside of it that I opened to reveal a pair of silver crescent moon earrings.

“Oh wow,” I murmured.

“They’ve got the ivuis for good luck engraved as well,” Fetu said. “Hopefully they help you avoid trouble.”

I grinned at him, “Havu, re’havua. They’re amazing.”

I carefully closed the box, deciding to switch them out after the party, before reaching for one of the few presents left.

This one was from Coaxoch, and unwrapping it revealed a lovely dagger. It’s sheath was designed like a Kraken wrapping around a ship, curling waves flowing over one side.

I unsheathed it, noting that the blade was dulled.

“It’s decorative, but it’s one that can be sharpened if you wish,” she said.

I nodded, “Havu, it’s very nice.” I’ll probably sharpen it, if only as an extra weapon.

She twisted her hand, “I thought it was fitting.”

I didn’t touch my arm bands, with the kraken styled on them, but I could guess why she thought it fitting.

I set it with the armor, Hippolyta immediately reaching for it, and then turned back to the presents.

The next present I grabbed was wrapped in blue and green seaweed and held Oceanus-ari’s name on it.

I carefully unwrapped it, wondering what Oceanus-ari might’ve gotten me. Honestly, I’m really flattered he got me anything at all.

I’m not actually his kid after all, there isn’t a need for him to get me anything. None of them actually needed to get me anything, but I’m really happy they did.

I blinked when the inside revealed a box, a lot of things are gifted in boxes apparently.

I’ve never gotten so many gifts before, so this is kinda strange.

I opened the box and gasped when something shot out.

It took a moment to see, it was zipping around me so quickly, but it finally stopped in front of my eyes.

It was like a mini sea serpent, but… make of sea glass.

“Oh, wow,” I whispered, reaching out to touch it.

It nuzzled my finger, it’s scales (despite being glass) smooth and sturdy.

“Hello pretty one,” I murmured.

It made a trilling sound, curling over my hand and winding around my wrist.

I laughed, carefully petting it with my other hand.

“Oh,” Fetu said. “Those are hard to make.”

“It’s sentient,” Lagi mused, leaning forward. “Those are very hard to make.”

Metua was glaring at it.

“It’s very pretty,” Samoa said. “I love the way it’s scales look.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “They’re so detailed.”

It hummed, vibrating lightly on my wrist as it did so.

“Well,” Metua said. “You still have a few presents to go.”

I nodded, carefully nudging the sea serpent until it swept up and curled on my shoulder, a low vibration coming from it still.

I reached for the next gift, seeing it was from Samoa.

It was wrapped in simple seaweed, which I pulled away to reveal a curled pearl necklace.

“That looks like the kind land-dwellers make,” Avl said with a faint sneer on her lips.

“I got it at the downed ship, the one to the tiafal,” Samoa said stiffly. “It was well made.”

“How… quaint,” Avl said mildly.

I hummed, putting the pearl necklace on, “I like it. Havu, Samoa.”

She brightened, “Uafoto, Percy.”

There was only one more present on the table, which was apparently labeled as from Tethys-ran. It also had a note attached.

I tucked the note away for now, I’ll look at it later, away from all the guests. For now, I opened the present.

Inside was a necklace.

The necklace was made of interlocking scales, deep blue-green and shimmering in the manisi pearls light. They were connected with what looked platinum, and while thin, clearly meant to be a choker.

“Oh,” Mevuta murmured. “That’s a velaru.”

What’s a velaru?

“Oh my,” Samoa murmured. “Are you improved so much that you’ve gained the sensory aspect?”

“Those are used for quelling the senses,” Triton explained. “Especially when you’re young or not working as a sensor.”

“But they’re only needed for those with such advanced senses,” Avl added. “So I don’t know why Tethys-ran has already given you one…”

“Oh!” I grinned. “Oceanus-ari said he would speak with her about it.”

“He said what,” Metua muttered.

I carefully clipped the necklace around my neck and almost slumped at the immediate relief.

I’d started getting used to the constant sensory overload, and at least in the sea most of the sensations are similar so it’s a bit easier to ignore. But now… I could breathe without feeling the pressure of the water around me, the rubbing salt of Metua, the coiling currents of Mevuta… I let out a breath in relief.

Thank Pontus.

“Well,” Metua said. “Now that the rest of the presents are out of the way, I believe it is time for me to give you mine.”

He made a motion to someone behind me as I blinked in surprise. I thought the birthday party would be his present. What else is he giving me?

“My gift was waiting outside,” he said with a smile. “But, ah, there he is.”

I turned around, my eyes widening as the gift was brought in.

A guard was leading a hippocampus in, a foal. He was a lovely creature, with glittering rainbow scales making up his tail and shining hooves for his front half. His fur was a pale white, and his mane tied in neat braids to keep it organized.

“Oh,” I whispered. “Wow.”

“He is yet unnamed,” Metua said. “But he is yours.”

I swam over, holding out a hand to him.

“Hello,” I whispered.

The hippocampus nickered, nuzzling my hand.

_Hello, princeling._

I grinned.

“You’ll learn from the stable hand how to care for him,” Metua said. “Do you have a name idea for him?”

I considered him for a moment, petting his soft white fur as I thought.

There’s only one real name I could give to a magic steed.

“Appa,” I said. “His name is Appa.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

It turns out that Benthesikyme’s gift was connected to Metuan and Triton’s. She got me a complete set of care tools for both Hippolyta and Appa, including food and books on how to properly care for them. She also said that she’d be adding a tank to the Poseidon cabin and to my room back at mom’s apartment, so that I could bring Hippolyta with me.

I thanked her profusely of course, Hippolyta is a sweetheart, and Appa is so lovely. Honestly, all the presents are wonderful.

Now though I’m back in my room, Appa settled on a soft patch of kelp just for this purpose (the manisi pearls apparently supply it with the needed sunlight), Hippolyta making a comfortable spot amongst some shiny bits that she pulled from the cabinets. The gift from Oceanus, the small glass sea serpent, settled on my kelp pillows.

I finally had the time and privacy to open the letter from Tethys-ran.

**Percy-tou,**

**We are very sorry that we were forced to leave before your birthday, unfortunately our duties wait for nothing. We wish you both a wonderful thirteenth birthday, even if a bit late.**

**We hope that you like the gifts we have given you. Oceanus wished to give you a real sea serpent, but we weren’t sure you would have a place to keep them, thus we settled for a smaller more portable one. Fear not, it is able to swim in air as easily as water, so you may bring it with you on land. Just make sure to let it stay in water for at least an hour a day. It also has no need for food so worry not about that.**

**The necklace that I have given you is called a velaru, it is used in the same way that veils are for land mages. Our magic has different sources and thus must be protected against in different ways. Oceanus spoke to me about your struggles, and I gathered the pieces of this velaru myself. The scales are from fídi, Oceanus’ snake messenger. They are well suited for guarding you against the sensations of those around you.**

**I hope that the velaru aids you and soothes your senses. Please send me a message if there is anything else I can do to aid you.**

**May the currents guide you,**

**Tethys-ran y Oceanus-ari**

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I winced as the tovhu had me do the finger lifts. I had to hold my hands flat on the table coral and lift the fingers one at a time as far as I could without pain.

It’s only three more days before I go home, but in the meantime, I still have to finish physical therapy for my hand. It’s not fun.

Next exercise up is the grip one, with a sponge ball of some sort. I have to grip and release it, lengthening the time each time and increasing my strength each time. It’s miserable, my hand aches by the end of it. I never realized squeezing a ball could hurt your hand so much, but physical therapy proved it to me.

I sighed as I moved on to the next exercise, which requires a small thin band wrapped around my hand. I have to move my thumb out, stretching the band and holding it for a few seconds. I have to repeat it twenty times.

Thankfully I was almost done with physical therapy for the day, only two more exercises before the tovhu releases me, which means that I can finally make those Iris calls I’ve been meaning to make.

I quickly moved through the last two exercises, wrist ones that made me flex my wrist up and down with a clenched fist and then side to side with my hand flat.

Now to get back to my room and call my friends. I really should’ve done this sooner, but I didn’t think about it till the tovhu asked me about camp on land and my friends there.

I waved goodbye and swam out, time for calls!

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Triton POV**

I stood in front of the three best, and most discreet, warriors of Camp Tetomoa, studying them intently.

“This mission is of the greatest importance,” I said solemnly.

They nodded, “Yes, Triton-re’aia.”

“You cannot slip up, no one may know you’re there.”

“We will not fail you,” Klara said firmly.

I studied them, they’re all sixteen, all passed the strict tests that the camp put in place. All will be fully equipped for this quest, this mission.

“You will infiltrate the school, you will have to blend in with the mortals.”

“We’ll ensure his safety without being found out,” Acantha confirmed.

Kai flicked his tail, “We’ll keep him from harm.”

I pursed my lips.

“You’ll have two weeks to prepare and adjust to the mortal world. Antonio will be your teacher for this.”

Antonio fingers twisted into the proper motion of respect, “I will make sure they succeed.”

I let out a breath. They’re younger than most, but they’re the only ones that can pass for thirteen or fourteen. They’re also unknown to their target, which is another necessity.

“I am putting my faith in you, don’t let me down.”

“We won’t, Triton-re’aia.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Oceanus POV**

“What do you want little brother?” I asked to the pit, interrupting the voice.

The area shifted, shadows reaching from the gaping pit before me. He called me to speak to him, but so far has only been swimming ‘round the kelp field.

“I want to request your aid.”

I frowned, he did not commonly request anything last time, not after…

“Request my aid?”

“There is a war coming, you can tell as well.”

“Of course I can, but it will be a war of your own making. Why should I aid you in it?”

“You cannot be pleased with how the world has been polluted? The oceans filled with trash? The rivers clogged? The forests destroyed? Surely you have seen how the children are treated now? The blatant favoritism? The way the Half-Bloods are treated? The world is in a far worse place then it was under our rule.”

“Are you truly one to speak after what you did?”

I heard him sigh.

“I regret my actions toward my children greatly. Not only because of what it cost me in the end, I know now, why I acted the way I did, the madness that took me... I understand why you stepped away in the last war, and I thank you for not aiding me in my madness. But I plead with you now, don’t allow my children to continue their crimes. The world cannot last under their rule, and you know it as well.”

“It is good you regret eating your children,” I said coolly. “But that was not what I was referring to at this moment.”

There was a stir from the depths, “Then what other crime did I commit that angers you so?”

My eyes narrowed, “Your minion set a pit scorpion on Percy Jackson, a child.”

There was a beat of silence, “Oh? Did he now? How… interesting…”

I frowned, “You speak as if you weren’t aware?”

“His orders were to attempt to recruit the child, and to accept his answer as it is. I have plenty of time to turn him to my side, I need not have his aid immediately. I can’t imagine why Luke would decide to kill him.”

I pursed my lips. My brother seems to speak the truth, and yet…

“You wish for me to aid you in a war? And yet you cannot even keep one of your minions from trying to kill children? What guarantee could you give me that more children would not be harmed?”

He sighed, “I cannot give you a true guarantee. We both know my foolish children will send their own children to fight, they have no care for the lives lost. And despite my goal to capture rather than kill, there will be inevitable death.”

I raised an eyebrow, “This is not very convincing.”

“With your aid the war would end faster, it would be less deadly-“

“And what would happen to the losers? You plan to gain the pit beings’ aid do you not? What will you do about them wanting to feed on the demigods?”

“I wish to leave the children out as much as possible,” he insisted. “My goal is to take the camp first, quickly and painlessly. An overwhelming force that they couldn’t hope to fight.”

“The barriers would prevent that,” I countered.

“The barriers will fall soon, you can be assured of that.”

I frowned.

“I wish for the forces to enter by the sea, your aid would be invaluable.”

I mused over this. Kronos is very good at creating situations where the enemy has no option but surrender. He could very well succeed in forcing them to surrender quickly and painlessly if he succeeds in this plan.

He did defeat father after all, when father was in the depths of his own madness.

Is it fated for every ruler to fall to madness?

I shook my head, would the camp truly surrender? And if they didn’t… at the sea… Percy-tou would be front and center.

“You cannot truly guarantee anything,” I said.

“Is this about young Percy?” He questioned. “You seem attached, and I have sensed your power on him. Do you favor the child?”

His tone was almost sly, my eyes narrowed. “If you would target him to try and gain my allegiance-“

“I would not,” he promised. “I will be speaking with Luke on why he attempted to kill Percy. He would be extremely useful in my plans, and they would require him to be alive. I have no wish to harm my grandson.”

“Children are not tools,” I murmured.

“No, they are not. But, I must take their powers and skills into consideration. If it would aid in your consideration, I would guarantee his survival.”

I frowned, it would actually. I am not trying to get custody of him for nothing, he should not go through more suffering because of my brother’s plans.

And besides, my brother is sounding… far more sensible then he did at the end. Has he finally regained his sanity?

“All the children should be safe… though I will admit, I do favor that one.”

“Trying to steal another child, brother?” He was definitely teasing me now.

I rolled my eyes, “It is not stealing if I ask first.”

“Well, technically it is if they don’t say yes.”

I waved my hand dismissively, not that he could see.

“This minion of yours, Luke, he will not be welcome in the ocean. Ever.”

Kronos sighed, “Of course. I will keep him from the water.”

“You will ensure he is punished,” I insisted, feeling my anger grow once more. He harmed Percy, almost killed him, a child. I will not let him escape some sort of punishment.

“He will be punished. Even putting aside that he targeted a child, he directly disobeyed my orders and almost killed someone vital to my plans.”

I nodded. If the boy dares to come near my waters, or any river… or any lake… or really any body of water, he’ll not live to regret his actions.

“Will you consider my proposition?” Kronos asked.

I sighed, “I will consider. But I make no promises.”

“That is all I ask.”

His presence retreated, and I considered his words.

Putting aside my feelings in regard to the children, he is correct, the gods have been failing greatly.

I had not been certain they would be a greater ruler before, in the last war, but I had thought that they couldn’t be worse than my brother had become. In the beginning he ruled fairly, the world was peaceful. It was not called the golden age for nothing.

But at the end, that last small period of time, something changed.

I stared out at the wamaresia. He went from fair to cruel, eating his own children in fear of what they could become.

It made no sense, he had been delighted at the thought of children before. It’s half the reason he married Rhea. But the change had happened, so suddenly at Hestia’s naming ceremony, and I would not aid him in that war with how he had become.

But he seems remorseful, he seems far saner. He is even agreeing to compromises without any prodding. He would never have done that during the last war. It was his way or the gyres.

I have stood aside twice before in conflicts of the family, can I do it once more? Can the sea survive me standing aside once more?

Can Percy?

I sighed, the gods have been failing, the world is polluted, the waters especially, and they’ve done little to nothing to stop it. They throw tantrums every five minutes and have caused many wars due to their childishness. They abandon their children to suffer and don’t even hold the most basic of protections on them. They certainly don’t give their children a way to learn their powers, Percy is one of the few to have any idea of how his powers works, and he’s almost certainly the only one with actual teaching from his family who knows their powers.

The gods are no good as rulers, and if I can guarantee that at least the children have a chance…

Well, Kronos’ war might actually guarantee their survival better than no war at all… But it would also threaten them…

I don’t want war, I certainly don’t want war in my land. Children are always the first to suffer in war and even if it may better their lives I still worry.

But… if it would lead to better times, if Kronos is actually saner, if he can keep his oath…

He’s already brought harm to Percy, but it seems to have been against his will… perhaps… perhaps I could work with him.

I turned to leave, grimacing at the shadows that seemed to be spreading.

I called the wamaresia closer with a scowl as the shadows slid back.

I swam away, sending the anglerfish back to keep Erebus at bay. Just because Pontus sleeps and I am distracted does not mean Erebus can spread freely.

I focused back on the matter at hand, this war will cause trouble regardless. Me taking a side could decide it. I do not wish to pick a side that would endanger Percy, but I must consider the sea as a whole.

I need to speak with Tethys, this is not a decision to make lightly. She should have a say in it. Regardless of if I pick a side, or take neither side, I cannot decide without her input.

And then… then I need to decide how to keep the children safe, regardless of the side I choose.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Luke POV**

I stretched, exhausted from the sparring. Lord Kronos is certainly good at setting up training regimes that push me.

I haven’t been this tired in ages.

I wandered back towards the scattered remains of Mt. Othrys, towards one of the huts that had been built up. I think I’ll grab a drink, then do some climbing. Lord Kronos said that this was rest and training time before I would be needed.

I grinned, maybe I’d go down to the beach today. I’m right next to it but haven’t had a chance to check it out yet…

“Castellan,” Theia, the Titaness of jewels called. “Kronos wishes to speak to you.”

Theia, of the Titan’s aiding Kronos, only Her and Phoebe were free right now.

“Lord Kronos?” I asked. “What does He need?”

“You’ll see,” She said, motioning to the much nicer looking hut where Lord Kronos’ casket lay.

I hurried to it, murmuring a thank you as I passed Her. What could He need?

I pushed open the door, stepping into the hut. The inside smelled of fresh grains, the gold casket drawing my eye immediately.

I kneeled, “My Lord.”

_Luke Castellan._

His voice echoed in my head.

“How may I serve?”

_You may start by explaining why you attempted to kill Percy Jackson._

I frowned, “You ordered me too.”

_I ordered you to attempt to recruit him, and to accept his answer as is._

Well yes, but I could catch the meaning. Accept it and tie up the loose ends if he says no.

“I… yes… and he said no. So I sought to get rid of a future threat-“

_I am the one who decides what threats need removal._

“My Lord-“

_He is necessary for my plans, and his death would cause many problems. You are not to go near him again._

“I understand,” I murmured.

I don’t understand, he’s a clear threat to Lord Kronos! He foiled one plan already, I can’t risk him doing it again!

_You will also stay away from all water sources, be they river, lake, sea, or ocean._

I blinked, “What?”

_You have succeeded in angering not just Poseidon, but also Oceanus, Tethys, and every other major deity of the sea._

I gaped, “What!?”

_This is what happens when you don’t follow my orders._

I winced, Lord Kronos is very displeased.

“I apologize. I will do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

_You will stay in your room and wait._

“But what about the mission you had for me?” I asked desperately.

I can’t fail him now!

_It will be handled._

I bit my tongue and bowed my head, “Yes, My Lord.”

This is all Jackson’s fault, if he’d died (like he obviously failed to do) then I wouldn’t have this problem. I’m not sure what’s up with him and Lord Kronos’ plans, but I think it’s safer to just be rid of the kid.

Yes, it would definitely be safer to be rid of him. If Lord Kronos isn’t prepared to handle him out of fear of upsetting his siblings, then I’ll just have to handle it myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of the presents? Hippolyta and Appa? What did you think of Oceanus? What about Kronos? How well do you know the myths to know what's going on?
> 
> And most importantly, are you an octopus or a shark person?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran~~  
> Ivuisav=runes  
> Havu=thank you  
> Havua=Thank you greatly  
> Re'Havua=Thank you so much  
> Taea soha tatu=dear little brother  
> petulu=land locked idiot  
> Metua=Father  
> pipone=kelp/seaweed blended paper  
> Mevuta=step mother  
> Uafoto=you're welcome  
> tiafal=north  
> manisi=sun  
> velaru=purification aid necklace  
> tovhu=doctor  
> wamaresia=undersea fish lights
> 
> ~~suffixes~~  
> re'ari=Old Emperor  
> ari=old king  
> ran=old queen  
> tou=little one
> 
> ~~not halmaheran but unfamiliar~~  
> Gyres=like a whirlpool, but bigger, very strong circling currents


	6. Calls and Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy talks to his friends <3 Oceanus and Tethys have a chat about where to go from here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm done with school! Freedom! For the next month at least. So much writing to be done in that time. 
> 
> Also! Me, Teags, Izzy, and Angie (plus Pax there cheering us on :D) are now recreating Greek Fire (which was a real thing and if you want more info follow our youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPLQ5__aBaoYClpmByub3Fw) so please expect a big report on it in 4/5 years while you follow our progress. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/WXajMwrm9s

I settled onto my bed, the rainbow stone out once more.

First, I’m gonna message the Aphrodite cabin, I did promise to get in contact with them… Probably should’ve done that sooner.

I flicked an aurova at the rainbow, “Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please show me the Aphrodite cabin.”

The rainbow cleared to show Silena doing her makeup at one of the vanities.

“Silena,” I called.

She jolted, spinning around to see me. Her lipstick had smeared when I’d called out for her, but she didn’t seem concerned.

“Percy!”

“What?” called a voice from the side.

“Did you say Percy,” asked another.

“Hi,” I said with a wave, nervously fingering my necklace with my other hand.

“You’re alive!” Lapis said as she leaned into the view of the Iris Message.

“Yeah, I’m alive-“

“Where are you?” Lapis asked urgently.

“Are you really under the sea?” asked Halia as they shoved their way into view.

“Did Luke actually-“

“Are you hurt-“

“-attack you and-“

“-badly?” Valentina asked.

“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Silena questioned.

“-try to kill you?” Mitchell asked

“What’s your dad-“

“Those are cool arm bands.” Lapis added.

“-like?” Halia asked.

I leaned back as they all talked over each other, “Hang on- give me a sec.”

They went silent, watching me expectantly.

I took a moment to try and parse out what they all said. “So uh, Luke…”

“Yeah,” Silena asked with a worried look. “Did he actually- Did he-“

I nodded, rubbing my palm where the scar remained.

“Yeah… he… he did.”

“What happened?” Halia asked gently.

I took a breath, wrapping my arms around my tails.

“Wait—woah,” Silena leaned forward. “Are those tails?”

I blinked, “Huh? Oh- yeah.”

“That’s so cool,” Mitchell mumbled.

Valentina’s eyes were sparkling, “Is it because you’re a child of Poseidon? Can anyone turn into something like their parents!?”

“Uh- no I don’t think so? I mean… maybe? I’ve never tried-“

“I’m going to become a dove,” Lapis swore.

I couldn’t help but grin, “Go for it. But yeah, I have a special charm that lets me have tails. Triton gave it to me.”

“That’s amazing,” Silena declared before shaking her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt, please continue.”

I nodded, “Luke brought me out to the woods, said he wanted help retrieving Alabaster’s cards that he borrowed… Then he had us stop in a clearing and-“

I bit my lip, remembering the way he’d spoken, the way he’d claimed to be saving everyone while he’d also been planning to hurt them, to let them be hurt. He hadn’t asked any of them what they wanted, he was deciding for them. And then he’d sicced the pit scorpion on me and…

“Are you okay?” Halia asked softly.

“Yeah… I’m okay… he told me his Lord was offering me a place with them and revealed that he was the one to steal the lightning bolt.”

Silena gasped.

“I refused to leave, and he summoned a pit scorpion.”

“What’s a pit scorpion?” Valentina whispered.

“It’s from Tartarus,” I murmured, feeling the way the air seemed to twist at that. “It can kill mortals in sixty seconds and make immortals very ill for a few days at least. Its antidote takes two hours to prepare, it’s extinct on the surface and can only summoned through a specific ritual. Luke would’ve had to have completed the ritual before summoning it to kill me or have someone else do it for him.”

“How did you survive if it kills in sixty seconds?”

“I had a poturu from Triton, it brings the user straight to Him. I used it and well… the taohu had been teaching their apprentice how to make the antidote just the day before… I got lucky.”

Silena sniffed, clutching her charm bracelet. “I’m so sorry Percy.”

“It’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “Luke is the one at fault, he’s the one who betrayed us and…”

“Are you coming back to camp?” Valentina asked as Halia hugged Silena.

“Not till summer. Triton isn’t happy with the camp for letting me get hurt but I managed to convince Metua to let me return.”

“That’s good,” Mitchell said. “But we’re still good for Iris Messaging?”

I grinned, “Yep! I’ll be heading back to my moms home for the year, attending school and all.”

“That’s near Drew, right?” Valentina said with a frown.

“Yeah, I’ll call her after we’re done.”

“Maybe we can meet up for the Autumn equinox,” Lapis said with a grin. “You could come to camp, or we could go to you for the other holidays.”

“Other holidays?” I wondered.

“You haven’t celebrated these?” Valentina asked. “Well there are a lot of holidays we could meet up for, like Proerosia or Oskhophoria, and of course the Autumn Equinox… Well, the rest of the holidays aren’t really meet up ones… there aren’t as many in the fall.”

“Proerosia? Oskhophoria?”

“Proerosia is devoted to Demeter, we honor Her for the harvest and stuff, leave out some offerings for Her,” Valentina said. “It’s something that’s mainly the Demeter cabin, but the rest of the camp still leaves something out. There’s also a focus on Apollo and His oracles that day, so the Apollo cabin makes an offering to Him as well.”

“Oh, cool,” I hadn’t heard of that holiday before.

“Yeah, we’re able to go out for it if we want, we get the day off. And some people come to camp for the day to celebrate.” Mitchell said helpfully.

I nodded, “That sounds fun.”

“It is!”

“And of course,” Silena added. “Oskhophoria is a holiday for Mr. D, and sorta Athena as well. We have a big meal that night with lots of grapes, and everyone gets watered down wine, and we all add an offering for Mr. D. It’s about thanking Him for the grape harvest in the old days but uh, we don't grow grapes but also He can’t have wine now so…”

“We’re pretty sure he just really misses wine, so everyone gets some so they can offer it to him,” Lapis giggled.

I couldn't help the small laugh even as I realized that it probably wasn't fun for him. Being cut off from the thing you rule doesn’t sound fun, but it is kinda funny I can’t imagine being away from water for a long time, sounds miserable.

“Maybe I can come for that,” I mused.

“It would be cool,” Halia agreed. “We mainly thank him for the strawberry harvest nowadays, since he’s the reason it’s so good.”

“Makes sense, what do you do on the Autumn Equinox?”

“A big feast!” Lapis beamed.

“Mr. D arranges cooking areas for all of us, beyond the tiny ones that the bigger cabins have, and we all get to plan foods to make,” Silena said with a grin. “The Harpies still make some of the big stuff, but we make a bunch of the side stuff.”

“And then we all get together,” Lapis said with a grin. “And we don’t have to sit at our cabin tables, and after the normal offerings we eat!”

“And we light candles on our windows,” Mitchell added. “Because it’s the time when the nights become longer than the days.”

“Are the candles for Apollo then?” I wondered.

“Yep. Because He’s the sun, so we honor Him as the days grow shorter, though I think they used to honor Helios more for it?” Mitchell frowned for a minute. “But He’s not been seen in ages so... Plus, some offerings to Demeter as the harvest draws to a close, and as thanks for the feast too.”

“Don’t forget the honoring of Phthinophoron, the Horae of Autumn,” Halia added.

“Yeah,” Silena agreed. “We have a lot to do on the Equinox.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “I did some research when I was younger but only really knew about the food aspect.”

“Well,” Mitchell paused. “A lot of this is more… custom? Like, a lot of people have their own practices for honoring the Gods. At camp we just have a system in place, with our style of doing it. Some campers also do extra stuff, some cabins too. But the camp as a whole has holidays it celebrates and has for a long time, so it’s pretty well set up.”

“Oh cool,” I paused remembering something I’d read one time. “Wait do we celebrate Samhain?”

Silena shook her head. “No that’s a Celtic holiday originally, and then the Wiccans picked it up and changed it some. But it’s not Greek. The closest we have to that in Greek holidays would be Genesios, which was actually like… a week or so after you left.”

“How do you celebrate that?” I asked.

“Oh, it was lovely,” Mitchell said. “I’d never been to one before, but we had this large meal, and had barely cakes. We made some offerings to Ares for those that passed in battle, and Hades for those in His kingdom. And then we all gathered around and traded stories of those that have passed.”

“It’s a very sweet holiday,” Lapis agreed. “I really enjoyed it too.”

“Wow, that sounds nice,” I murmured.

“It is,” Valentina agreed. “But anyways, we can try to meet up for one of the holidays, that would be really fun.”

I grinned, “For sure.”

“Now then!” Halia chirped. “We have to get to dinner, and you have to call Drew and tell her how you’re doing. We’ll IM all the other cabin members and let them know.”

I relaxed, “Yeah, thanks. Talk to you guys later.”

“Bye!”

“See ya.”

“Stay safe.”

“Goodbye!”

“Of course,” Silena gained a wicked smile. “Anything for our dear nephew. Bye Bye!”

I groaned as the Iris Message faded away, their laughter lingering in the air.

“They’re never gonna let that go,” I grumbled as I flicked another Aurova into the rainbow to call Drew.

The image cleared after a minute, to show a pretty bedroom with glittering pink walls a big white bed with dark pink bedding. Drew was laying on the bed with a school book and a notebook open in front of her.

“Hi,” I called.

Her head shot up, hand drawing a dagger from under her pillow, before she saw me.

“Percy!? Oh, my Hades you’re okay!”

I waved awkwardly. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“We were all so worried when you vanished before the going away lunch. And then most of us had to leave anyways and the cabin IMed me and said that Luke had almost _killed_ you and you were in the ocean and- are those tails?“

I laughed, pulling one of my tails up. “Yep.”

“That’s so cool, by my mother. I want a tail, actually I want wings, can you imagine having wings?”

“I think Zeus would kill me so I’m good.”

She laughed, “Fair… but really, you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I relaxed. “I’m okay now, Triton made sure of it.”

“That’s good.” She studied me for a moment. “So you’re at your dad’s palace?”

“Yeah, Atlantis.”

“What’s it like?”

I hummed, considering carefully. “I like it. The city around the palace is really pretty, and most of my family is really nice. I’m not sure about Khrysaôr… Triton seems ready to strangle him every five minutes.”

She laughed, “Do the Gods fight a lot?”

“Only really Khrysaôr and Triton, and well, Triton and Kymopoleia too. Kymopoleia took me to a spa though!” I faltered. “… Carl is mad at me for going to a spa.”

She snorted, “He really doesn’t like them, does he? I remember the time over the summer that he almost jumped out of the tank when I said I’d take you to a spa.”

I nodded, “He has some trauma with spas. Says they’re evil and stuff… he won’t tell me what happened though.”

“Strange, maybe you can take him with you to one? Like exposure therapy?”

I tried to think for a minute on how that would work and had an image of him completely flipping out.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s the way to do this…”

She shrugged, “Hopefully he gets past his fear of spas at some point.” Her eyes lit up, “There’s this really nice one near me, they have the best massages, and oh their facials are perfect. I love their hot stone massages, you’ll have to come with sometime.”

I grinned, “That sounds fun!”

“It is, it’s absolutely lovely- are those earrings!?”

I flushed, touching me ear where the silver crescent moon earrings from Fetu were. “Um, yeah, I got my ears pierced when I was out with Kymopoleia.”

She grinned, her eyes sparkling as she bounced in her seat. “That’s awesome! What kinds of earrings do you have?”

“I have these, I got them from Fetu. And I have a few pearl ones, and some silver ones I think.”

“Ooh I’ll get you more fun ones some time. We can go shopping together!”

I grinned, “Yeah, that would be fun.”

I still have money saved after all, so I can buy a few small things.

“Anyways,” Drew said with a shake of her head. “What else have you done?”

I chewed my lip as I tried to think of anything else interesting, “I had a birthday party.”

Her eyes widened, “Wait when was your birthday?”

“Er, August eighteenth…”

“Why didn’t you tell me!? Now I need to get you a birthday present, what do you like? Wait I know what you like. Okay, books, and you know what…”

She studied me for a moment, “You have the family eyes so matching the color would be hard for fabric…”

“What about fabric?”

“Nothing, nothing, are you coming back on land? We’ll need to meet up.”

I blinked, “Oh, uh, in a few more days, four or five.”

“You’ll have to visit me, when does your school start?”

“I’m not sure, mom didn’t say. I’ll have to ask.”

“Most schools start in just over a week, I’m finishing my summer homework now.”

I nodded, “I’ll be back in time if my school does that too.”

“We should meet up before school, grab ice cream and stuff.”

I brightened, I’ve never had a land friend to do that with!

“That sounds great! We’ll have to set it up when I’m back on land.”

She stiffened as a knocking noise rang out.

“Drew, honey, you are working on your summer homework, aren’t you?”

“Gotta go,” she whispered. “I’ll call you later, so we can plan our meet up. Happy late birthday.”

“Bye,” I whispered back.

She turned to the side, “Yes mom, I’m working on it now.” She swiped her hand through the rainbow a moment later.

“Well why don’t we go over what you have so far-“ the voices faded away with the image.

I shook my head, reaching for another aurova. Only two more calls to make, thank Pontus Triton gave me more than enough aurova to call everyone. What am I gonna do with the other forty?

I paused, realizing that the Aphrodite cabin was at dinner so that meant everyone at camp was.

Ugh, I’ll need to wait to call them…

I jumped at the feeling of something moving on my tail, looking down to find Hippolyta there.

I laughed, “Hey Lyta, how are you today?”

The faint hum from her was soothing. She’s too young to give proper words and the like, mainly impressions of emotions and flashes of images. Triton says a lot of older octopi do that on purpose, preferring to be unknown rather than speaking clearly.

I like it though, she’s really sweet.

I bent down to scoop her up, her deep red tentacles curling over my fingers.

“Having fun?” I asked as I poked one of her tentacles.

I blinked at the flash of her little nest, a very comfy area in the corner of the room where some sea grass was. She’d snuck quite a few shiny bits from around my room into it, I’ll have to retrieve that necklace.

“Do you wanna play?” I asked gently

She pushed up, her tentacles pushing out as she latched onto the ceiling.

I grinned, flicking up to catch her.

She shot off and promptly tumbled into Appa. I yelped as I threw my hands up to stop myself from hitting the ceiling.

She radiated amusement as she pushed up again, Appa stumbling up too in confusion. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lyta you can’t hit Appa, he’s not as strong as you.”

I grinned at the smugness that she radiated as Appa drew himself up.

The distinct impression of how unimpressed he was with me made me laugh more, falling backwards in the water as I did.

“Well I doubt you’re as fast,” I teased him gently. "I mean, Lyta is the fastest octopi ever."

He shot up, determination radiating from him. With a thrill of pride and an image flashing to me of him being proud, he shot off, and promptly crashed into me. I yelped as we tumbled into my bed.

“Appa!” I cried.

He looked at Hippolyta, who was curled around the mirror on the vanity.

“Don’t look away,” I grumbled, but couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice. “Come on, lets get up. Do you wanna go for a swim?”

He pulled himself off with his hooves, head perked up and his fish tail flicking.

“I guess that’s a yes. Do you wanna come Lyta?”

Hippolyta seemed to consider, tentacles curling and uncurling from the mirror, but she came down after a moment, curling on my shoulder.

“Awesome, let’s go then!”

I led them out, wandering through the halls until I reached the outside, where I turned to the livery.

“Do you wanna practice me riding?” I asked Appa. “Or just wanna swim free?”

Appa twisted, head turning towards me, before he flicked away from the livery.

“Okay, free swim it is,” I grinned as Appa swam towards the paddock.

Curling kelp grew super large here, and there were braided entrances all around. It’s where the Hippocampi that Metua has, and the other ones for the palace, train or do free swimming, so they don’t wander. The manège was closer to the livery, for easy access for training the Hippocampi.

With Lyta on my shoulder, Appa and I swam in and I laughed as Appa took off like a swordfish. I swam around, finding one of the floating benches to settle on and let Lyta explore the area around me.

I relaxed, watching Appa explore the paddock, swimming up and down to look at the kelp walls.

It’s really interesting how they grow, there must be magic involved in it. Maybe I can ask Triton about it later.

I grinned as Hippolyta got stuck in the kelp, squeezing through small openings to get to a more comfortable spot.

This is nice, relaxing. I’m glad I got to come down here and will apparently get to come back. It’s very… comfortable. It feels like home.

But I still miss mom. I’m excited to go to back to her, to have blue cookies and a hug and best of all, no Smelly Gabe.

I closed my eyes and leaned back.

I’ve never had a year without Smelly Gabe, it’ll be nice… I think… well it certainly can’t be worse than when he was around.

And mom will be happy.

I jolted at the sudden push that nearly shoved me off the bench.

Appa peered up at me, big brown eyes staring.

“Sorry,” I scratched at the base of his mane. “I was thinking.”

He nuzzled my arm, nickering softly. His curiosity and worry clear as wamaresia.

“I’m fine, just missing home.”

He settled against me, Hippolyta drifting over as well to settle in my hair. I huffed, continuing to pet to Appa as I rested.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I stretched before grabbing another aurova. The break was nice, and very relaxing, but time to get back to calling my friends.

I flipped the aurova back into the rainbow, “Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me the Demeter cabin.

The rainbow cleared after a moment showing Suki stretching out her legs with a grimace as she hooked her cane on the bunk bed.

“Hey Suki,” I called.

She jolted, wincing as she faced me.

“Percy? Oh, my stars you’re okay! Silena said you were but-“ she paused studying me. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

I nodded, “Yeah, Triton made sure I was okay. How are you?”

“Mostly okay, there’s a storm coming outside of the barrier and it’s causing a flare up, but the Apollo cabin gave me some ambrosia to help so I’m good.”

I nodded, those days always suck for her. Some days she can move around just fine, without her cane and sometimes even without her brace. Other days, not so much. Today seems to be a bad one.

“How’s Katie?”

Suki smiled, “She’s fine. Right now, she’s dealing with the Stoll brothers. They tried to steal the Athena cabins books from the Apollo cabin and now both cabins are trying to kill them.”

I laughed, “They made a mistake getting in-between the Athena and Apollo cabins’ rivalry for books.”

“Oh yeah, the Apollo cabin is trying to shoot them and they’re cowering in some trees.”

“Poor them, at least the dryads are keeping them alive.”

“How else are the dryads going to get their supply of dr pepper?” she said with a grin.

I snickered, “They must protect their supplier.”

“Well, enough about them. What are you- is that an octopus?”

I blinked, noticing Lyta curling around my shoulder suddenly. I’d gotten used to her doing that so hadn’t noticed.

“Oh yeah, this is Hippolyta. Triton gave her to me for my birthday.”

“That is absolutely the cutest thing ever,” she declared. “You are absolutely bringing her by sometime.”

I grinned, “Absolutely. Lyta is the best.”

There was a crashing noise.

“I’m sure that’s fine,” she said mildly. “So anyways, did you get anything cool for your birthday, other than Hippolyta?”

I brightened, “Yeah, I got these cool earrings-“ I leaned over to show her them “-and I got this necklace-“ I pointed at the necklace from Tethys-ran that gleamed in the light, doing it’s job of keeping the sensations out “-and I got this cool- Ran come over here.”

I held out a hand for the little glass sea serpent to land on, holding it up to the rainbow.

“Oh, that’s so pretty!”

“They’re name is Ran, they were a birthday present too.”

“Amazing,” she murmured. “I’ll have to make sure to grab you something for a birthday present. Anything you really want?”

“Um… I’m not sure. Maybe a pretty plant? We just got a new apartment, so it would be nice to add some plants.”

“Sure! I’ll find something nice.”

“Suki, I grabbed your shot from the Apollo cabin, and and two ice packs.”

Katie came into the picture, waving vaguely at me without looking, “Hi sorry, it’s Suki’s shot day so we’ve gotta go.”

“See you, Percy,” Suki said with a wave. “I half-hoped you’d forget, Katie.”

Katie jolted, “Percy!? Okay I’m definitely calling later but Suki’s treatment comes first. And Suki I know for a fact that you have an alarm set and have it marked on your calendar.”

“Yeah, but the shot huuuurrrrtttsss.”

Katie sighed, “I know.”

Suki smiled at her, grabbing a pillow to hold under her arm. “Thanks for helping me Katie, and happy late birthday Percy!”

“Bye!” I called as I waved my hand through the Iris Message.

“Where do you want it this time-“

I sighed, plucking up the last aurova set aside for this. Hopefully Suki gets lots of rest.

Now then, time to call Annabeth.

I flipped the aurova into the rainbow once more, saying the words to call her.

The image cleared after a moment to show dining room, Annabeth sitting at the table, her gaze on her food and a frown on her face. There was a man I assume is her dad, a woman, and two young boys also sitting there.

“MOM!” One of the boys yelled staring at me. “There’s a boy in a rainbow!”

Annabeth’s head snapped up, “Percy!?”

Are they all gonna react in complete shock?

“He’s a mermaid!?” One of the boys cried.

“No, shut up,” Annabeth snapped. “Percy are you still at your dad’s palace? Are you okay? Did Luke actually-“ she faltered there, biting her lip.

“Annabeth don’t snap at your brothers,” the woman chided.

“His skin is _green_!” the other boy said loudly.

“Only a little,” the first boy argued.

“I’m still in Atlantis yeah,” I said, deciding to ignore the boys. “And I’m fully healed up. Just have to do a bit more physical therapy and I’ll be going home.”

“To camp?” she asked.

“Why is he wearing earrings?” The first boy asked. “Those are for girls.”

“Cause he’s a mermaid,” the second boy declared. “So he’s a girl.”

“Girls are she’s, not he’s.”

“Well then she’s a girl.”

“Will you both shut up?” Annabeth snapped. “And girls can use he if they want to.”

“Annabeth,” the woman chided again.

“Are you really a mermaid?” the man (her dad?) asked. “How fascinating.”

“Uh, in the ocean the term would be mer, or mernix for genderneutral. Or tame if you want to go by the word in Halmaheran…”

The man’s eyes lit up.

“Okay,” Annabeth said. “Me and Percy need to talk so you guys can leave now.”

“But I wanna talk to the mermaid.”

“Merman,” Annabeth snapped. “He’s a _boy_.”

“But she’s wearing earrings!”

“Boys can wear earrings too!”

“Earrings are really common for Mer’s to wear in the ocean,” I added helpfully. “Jewelry as a whole is in fact. It’s a status symbol, and kinda replaces clothes, we don’t need those underwater.”

“But jewelry is for _girls_ ,” one of them insisted.

“No, boys,” the man said. “Anyone can wear jewelry if they want, it’s just that a lot of people think it should only be for girls. Really anyone can wear it though.”

The woman pursed her lips.

“Can you bring your… friend… to another room? Rather than us leaving mid-meal?”

Annabeth huffed but stood, shoving her chair out with a screech.

“Sure.” She left the room, the Iris Message following her to a living room where she angrily pushed toys off the couch so she could sit.

“So, you’re back home,” I noted.

She sighed, “Yeah… I thought I’d try it again, see if I could spend time with my dad…”

“How’s he doing?”

She chewed her lip. “He doesn’t necessarily side with her… but he also doesn’t really tell her to stop. And I don’t really like his wife. She’s… judgy of things. She won’t let me veil in the house, or out of the house, and I wasn’t able to celebrate the New Moon properly.”

“Oh?” I frowned. It’s such a strange contrast between land and sea really. It confused me when the camp was celebrating it. “What didn’t she let you do?”

“I couldn’t leave out the offerings on Hekate’s Deiopnon, though she did let me clean. And on Noumenia she threw out the flowers I set around the house and wouldn’t let me make the honey cakes _and_ wouldn’t let me make a Kadiskos to honor the Gods. And she definitely didn’t let me pour anything out for the household spirit on Agathos Daimon.”

I scowled, “But that’s our Gods! Your mom!”

“I know,” she huffed. “I’ll do my best to do it discreetly, but…”

“Are you gonna go back to camp?”

She bit her lip, “I don’t know… I don’t… Camp is… it’s filled with memories and after Luke-“

I nodded, “After he betrayed the Camp…”

“I tried to call him,” she murmured. “But it wouldn’t go through. I don’t- that wouldn’t happen if he was innocent. It’s just… it hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. He made his choice, he left us, not the other way around.” Her jaw clenched, “If he hates us that much then that’s his choice. I won’t-“ she sniffed “-I won’t stand by him when he’s just gonna drop us like this.”

I wished I was there, so I could hug her. I just wasn’t sure what to say to comfort her.

“I’m sorry, Annabeth. I… I wish I could do something to help.”

She rubbed her eyes with a scowl. “It’s fine, I’m fine, I just… I need to be away from Camp for a bit. Maybe I’ll go back for the Heliogenna Festival on the Winter Solstice and just stay for the rest of the year. School here looks boring anyways, this is stuff I learned when I was eight.”

I grinned, “Well then at least you’ll have lots of free time.”

She huffed, a small smile tilting her lips. “Yeah, lots of free time. But what about you? What are you doing for the year?”

I hummed, “I’m going back to moms, gonna spend the school year at the new school.”

“That sounds nice,” Annabeth murmured. “So what-

“Percy,” called a familiar voice. “I need to talk to you about the full moon-“

Triton faltered as he saw the Iris Message, with Annabeth staring back at him.

“Ah, sorry, I guess you need to go,” Annabeth said.

“Yeah, talk to you later!”

“Bye,” she waved before swiping her hand through the IM.

“Who was that?” Triton asked.

“Annabeth,” I said. “She’s the person that went on the quest with me.”

“Is she…” He paused staring at the blank rainbow. His face was a light green, paler than his normal shade. “Is she a daughter of _Athena_.”

“Yeah…” I mumbled, shifting.

“You should avoid her,” He said firmly. “Children of Athena are all the same. None of them can let go of their pride, and all of them take after their mother in harming those that they claim to love.”

“Annabeth wouldn’t,” I said quickly. “She’s great, I like her a lot. She’s a good friend.”

He stared at me, his gaze intent. “Pallas loved Athena and that didn’t stop Athena from running her through in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match.”

I swallowed, “Annabeth wouldn’t-“

“Athena always swore she wouldn’t either. But she went to attack Pallas with deadly force when they were supposed to be showcasing their sparring skills. Despite Pallas’ distraction, Athena did not halt her strike. The fact that the force had the potential to be deadly at all, and was aimed at Pallas’ one-“

He took a breath, his hands shaking. “She aimed right at Pallas’ weak spot, knowing it was her weak point. Athena knew and she aimed there and Pallas died.”

I clutched at the pillow on the bed.

“Triton- I- Annabeth wouldn’t-“

He swallowed, “Athena even now mocks Pallas’ death, every child she has is a mockery of it. All of them looking so similar to Pallas-“

I blinked, “What?”

His tails lashed, “Pallas had golden hair, it shone even in the darkest water. Her skin was like burnished bronze, and her eyes a stormy green. Athena practically models her children after Pallas, except the eyes. It’s a mockery, she killed Pallas and acts as if she can do anything in Pallas’ memory.”

My eyes widened, I hadn’t known that.

“Athena’s crimes can’t be held against her children though,” I whispered. “Annabeth hasn’t done anything to hurt me, and I don’t believe she would.”

He scoffed, “Not yet she hasn’t, but I don’t want you to find out what she would do. I don’t want you getting hurt. Athena’s children have a history of causing harm, just look at Daedalus who killed his own nephew for the secret of immortality.”

He shook his head, his power clear to me even with the necklace muting it.

“Or how about Sarah-Mae Williams, a serial killer who started with her own husband. She was the cause of dozens of demigods deaths before she was stopped. And Diokre Athenide, a pirate in the Aegean Sea who challenged Khrysaôr over and over and sacrificed her crew to escape him. Of the Ancient Ptolemic con man, Joshua, who led many families to bankrupt with his plated gold bars, and then blamed his family for it. Even now, Thomas Streak has bankrupted thousands to fill his own pockets and he still hasn’t been caught by mortal authorities.”

“Triton- those aren’t, sure there are bad ones, but-“ I clutched my tails, a twisty achy feeling in my gut. I don’t like this. “Not all are bad,” I whispered.

Triton’s gaze softened slightly, “I don’t mean to upset you, Percy, but Athena and her children… Even if this Annabeth doesn’t hurt you, Athena has a history of targeting children of Poseidon who get close to her children. Not to mention that she tends to ensure that her children don’t like those of the sea. It’s… I don’t want you getting hurt.”

I stared at the bed, “I know, I just… Annabeth is a friend, I wouldn’t have managed the quest without her… I just… I can’t hold her parentage against her any more than she did mine.”

He pursed his lips but nodded, “I won’t stop you from… interacting with her. It is your choice. But… be careful. Don’t follow blindly and…” he shook his head. “I’m sorry for upsetting you, I just worry.”

I pushed off the bed, throwing my arms around him.

“I know,” I mumbled. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

He hugged me tightly, “Of course.”

We paused for a moment, before he pulled back.

“Now then, we need to go over what we do for the full moon tomorrow.”

“It’s a blue moon on the land calendar,” I said helpfully, fiddling with my bracelet.

He smiled, “The land calendar isn’t accurate, the sea calendar is the proper one for the moons. Blue moons happen once in a century practically, not every year or two like on land.”

I nodded, “Right, they’re a big deal.”

“Exactly. But this one is a normal full moon,” he straightened. “Your first in the sea. So now we’ll be going over how full moons work in the sea.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I swam to Metua’s office. He’d sent for me after Triton left, Triton seemed tense still when he’d left, is this about Annabeth as well?

“You wanted to see me, Metua?”

“Yes,” Metua smiled at me. “Sit down, please.”

I settled on one of the cushions as Metua finished setting aside some aipone and airomo and focused on me.

“So, I talked to your mom.”

I straightened, “You did?”

He nodded, “Yes, we needed to plan your tutoring for the year and you coming to the ocean.”

“Oh,” I fiddled with my bracelet. “So it’s been decided then?”

He pulled one of the aipone out, the thin stone slab covered in notes.

“You’ll be spending the first and third weekend of every month at Camp Tetomoa, and the fourth weekend of every month… the land months I mean, not the undersea ones.”

I nodded, “Right.”

“Right, well, the fourth weekend of every month here. The second weekend is for time on land of course, along with the weekdays,” he paused to mark something on the aipone. “On the Autumn Equinox, the Day of Passing, the New Year, Moon Fall, and the Spring Equinox you’ll be here as well. You may choose if you want to come for other holidays and the full moons.”

“Okay, that makes sense. So, is the tutoring being done over the weekends?”

He shook his head, “No, you’ll have a tutor living near you. They’ll teach you on Mondays, Wednesdays, and if you have no other plans Fridays, but that will be up to you.”

I nodded again.

“Do you have any questions?”

“Who’s my tutor?”

“Her name is Euphemia. She’s an expert in the history of the sea and cultures, highly recommended even by Oceanus. She’s younger than a lot of teachers, but her teacher was equally skilled and knowledgeable. She should do well in teaching you your history and the culture of the sea, and possibly some other things.”

I nodded, thinking about any other questions I might have… oh.

“How will I be getting to Atlantis and Camp Tetomoa?”

“A Hippocampi will be waiting for you at the river. They can bend space around them as they swim, or well, the older ones can. It’s a learned magic of theirs. They’ll get you to the Camp or here within twenty minutes.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I paused again. “Oh yeah. One of the kids at camp, Leilani, got claimed by Psamathe, you know, the Goddess or uh, Nereid I mean, but yeah, the Nereid of the Sand Beaches.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said with a nod. “It’s been awhile since Psamathe had a child.”

I chewed my lip, “I was wondering if Leilani could stay in the Poseidon cabin.”

Metua blinked, staring at me in confusion for a second. “You want… another deities child to stay in my cabin?”

“Well she’s in the Hermes cabin right now,” I said. “And that’s not fair to her cause it’s packed full of all the children of Gods that don’t have cabins. She’s a child of the sea though, so it would make sense for her to stay in your cabin because you’re the God of the Sea…”

He considered me for a moment, “You really want her there?”

I ducked my head, “I think she should be in a cabin for the sea, and then she won’t be so cramped in there. Plus… it would be nice to have a roommate beyond Carl…”

He hummed, “Yes you don’t have any siblings to share a cabin with right now.”

Right now?

“I’ll allow it. I’ll send Dionysus a notice about it.”

I beamed, “Thank you!”

He nodded, “I’ll speak to Psamathe about sending a gift, is she thirteen yet? If so she’ll need a weapon…”

RIPTIDE! I can’t believe I forgot about the sword, ugh. But oh yeah, her age.

“Uh, she’s eleven I think.”

He nodded, making a note.

“Was there anything else?”

“Yeah, I just remembered, Chiron gave me a pen sword thing, it’s a uh… it’s a beings power? It’s called Anaklusmos.”

“Ah, yes that sword. It belonged to a nymph, one of the Hesperides. She was wiped from history around the time Herakles went through, and I haven’t heard of what became of her. Anaklusmos was found washed up on the shore a few years later. Without Anaklusmos, the blade forged of her immortal power, she would not have survived long though. The blade is now for those of the sea to use to protect themselves, so use it as you have need.”

“What was her name?” I asked, thinking back to the blade.

“Zoë,” he murmured.

I nodded, I’d remember her.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Oceanus POV**

I settled next to Tethys on the bed. She was twisting her hair into a long braid,

“Taeae,” I murmured.

“Are you ready to discuss what you did at the Tapohu?” she asked as she grabbed one of the coral hoops to tread her hair through.

I hummed, “Yes, thank you for your patience.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, waiting expectantly.

“Kronos spoke with me.”

“How is he doing?”

“Our little brother is… much more like himself.”

She finished her hair and turned to face me, “And?”

“He is planning to start a war, but wishes for it to be quick.”

“What would it mean for us?”

“He asks for us to guard his ships. He plans to attack Camp Half-Blood by sea and take it quickly with minimal losses.”

She smoothed out the sheets, a frown on her face. “Is he certain of his victory?”

I sighed, “He believes that he’ll succeed regardless of our age and well, he no longer seems mad. It’s like his mind has been cleared once more.”

She shook her head, “I am glad to hear that, but… war? We have always strived to stay out of the wars. Even against our father-“

“I know,” I sighed. “Even when our father went mad we stayed out. But this time… this time it does not seem like either side is mad. Zeus is as stubborn as ever, and he seems…. Not quite as he was at the beginning… but he isn’t mad… neither is Kronos.”

“You think this is a war where we could actually pick a side?”

I studied her grimly, “I don’t think that we have a choice. The sea is getting worse every year, the wild as a whole is. Something needs to change, we can’t keep going on like this. I think it’s time for our neutrality to come to an end.”

She sighed, “And what do you believe is best for the ocean?”

I let my gaze drift to the glowing ponisi on the wall for a long moment before I told her my decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul. 
> 
> What did you think of his conversations? Got any thoughts on Pallas? What do you think Oceanus is gonna do?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran Words~~  
> Aurova=gold sea coins  
> poturu=pearl shield  
> wamaresia=fish lights in the dark sea  
> Metua=Father  
> aipone=braided kelp  
> airomo=thin rock slaps that are used for papers  
> Camp Tetomoa=the Atlantis camp (not translation but the name of the camp)  
> Taeae=dear  
> Tapohu=pit of deep shadows (Tartarus)


	7. Blue Homes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moon ceremony!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy the chapter :D We're finally reaching school stuff... sorta.
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/6Pf8JgJ

I studied the silver mirror in my hand while I waited for Triton. It’s very shiny, and perfectly round and smooth. It’s used to symbolize the moon and should be brought up to the surface so that the full moon could shine on it and power it until the next full moon.

Apparently, there are a lot of moon Gods, which I knew but like… getting the full lecture on them from Triton yesterday really put it into perspective. Most in the sea honor whichever moon God they wish. A lot in Atlantis honor Selene, as the Greek Moon Goddess (or well, Titaness). She hasn’t been seen in a long time but it’s still proper because She is the Moon. But Artemis rides the moon chariot across the sky, so She’s also honored and respected for guiding the moon.

Triton said that they would be leaving out a table setting for Artemis at dinner tonight (and an always open seat for Selene that hasn’t been filled in a long time). Most of the undersea Gods leave a table setting to a Moon God, whichever one is related to Their pantheon usually. It’s meant to recognize the Moon Gods as equals with great importance to the sea, but also Gods don’t worship other Gods, so the sea Gods don’t do much beyond it.

Well, they also make the ponofa that the populace brings to the surface. I have some of the cakes (they’re strange pressed fish and anemone and seaweed cake cookie things but they look good) to share when I go to the surface with Triton.

I’m looking forward to going to the surface honestly, it’s been weeks and I do kinda miss the sun and moon.

“Are you ready to go, Percy?”

I perked up, flicking around to face Triton who was swimming towards me, leading two hippocampi.

“Yeah!” I grinned at him as he handed me the reigns to one of them.

“This is Chelsea, she’s very sweet and easy to ride.”

I nodded, I’ve only ridden a hippocampus two times, both brief and just for practice. Hopefully this goes okay.

“I’ll be on Belle and following behind you,” Triton said as he settled on Belle, his hippocampus. “Chelsea knows the way so don’t worry about getting lost.”

I nodded, settling on Chelsea.

“Hi,” I murmured.

Chelsea nickered, tossing their head as I loosely held the braided mane (very soft).

 _“Hello Prince_ , _”_ Chelsea replied. _“Are you settled?”_

I nodded, curling my tails tightly around their sides. “Yeah, all set.”

The hippocampi took off, showing why they’re the favored steeds of the mid seas by gaining speed rapidly until the ocean was a blur around me.

My breath caught, and I couldn’t help the grin stretching across my face.

Oh wow, this is amazing.

The world was a blur, the water rushing past me, I was being pushed back some by the force of the water as Chelsea moved.

Magic thrummed beneath my hands as Chelsea’s inherent magic, the reason Hippocampi are such good steeds, made us move even faster, bending the ocean around us so that we could reach the surface even faster.

Chelsea rapidly slowed, until they were just moving at a steady swim, and I leaned forward as I caught my breath.

That was amazing.

Triton laughed, “Enjoy the ride?”

“That was…”

“Belle is my favorite method of travel,” Triton agreed. “I could just go where I need to, but it’s so much more enjoyable to ride there.”

Belle nickered, tossing her head.

I grinned, looking around where we were now, then gasping as I looked up.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Come on,” Triton said, grabbing my hand to pull me to the surface.

In the sky were more stars than I’d ever seen. Millions, billions, sparkling brilliantly above. I’d never seen so many, nor seen them so clearly.

“The view is best from the sea,” Triton murmured. “Where pollution hasn’t yet touched the sky.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is.”

We drifted for a time, just staring up at the stars. I tried to find the constellations I’d learned, but there were too many stars for me to pick them out right then.

“Perseus-aia,” said a familiar voice.

I turned to see Lorenzo, and his parents, swimming over.

We ducked back under water.

“Triton-re’aia,” murmured Lorenzo’s mom.

“Camila-nie,” He responded, flicking his fingers in greeting as she twisted her hand.

“It has been some time since we saw you on the surface for the Full Moon,” Lorenzo’s father mused.

“I normally sit at the dinner for it,” Triton agreed. “But as this is Percy’s first Full Moon, first proper one that is, I am with him to guide him.”

“Of course,” Camila said with a smile.

“The moon is still fairly low,” Lorenzo murmured, staring up. “It’ll reach its peak within the next hour.”

“Yes,” Triton said, turning to us. “And when it reaches the peak you’ll pull out your mirror and say the prayer.”

I nodded, remembering from what he told me last night. And until the moon reached its peak (around midnight) we’d interact with each other and share the ponofa.

I brightened, fingering the pouch at my side. Maybe I could share some with Lorenzo?

“Lorenzo?” I asked. “Did you bring ponofa?”

He nodded, “I did, Percy-aia. Would you like some?”

I nodded, “I have some as well, if you would like to share.”

His lips curled up as he agreed, and we traded ponofa cakes. The ones he had were very sweet, they seemed to have some berries mixed in too! I didn’t know they could be made like that. Maybe next time I can make the cakes.

I smiled politely and asked him about Camp Tetomoa, and we spent the time before Moon Peak discussing the programs the camp had.

At some point a few others joined the conversation, some I knew, many I didn’t, and the water grew more crowded as more mers arrived for the full moon.

Triton brought me to this spot because it’s a popular one, but not so popular that the water would be filled.

It did mean I got to meet a lot of people, their eyes all but glowing in the faint light as we spoke and traded ponofa cakes. I got to meet quite a few that would be at Camp Tetomoa, and more that lived around the castle. A few others also rode on Hippocampi, and a few on other sea creatures, but just as many swam on their own.

The conversations trailed off as the moon neared it’s zenith. I glanced over to Triton who was settled with the Hippocampi, suddenly worried.

He explained how to do it and made sure I knew the prayer (it’s short so not that hard to memorize) but still, what if I messed it up? We came all the way out here and everyone here does this all the time and they’re all important and if I mess up it would be so bad-

“The moon’s almost there,” Lorenzo murmured as he reached into his pouch to draw out his mirror.

I glanced around and noticed others beginning to do so as well, adults and children alike. Some of the younger ones being handed their mirrors by their parents.

I bit my lip and drew my mirror out of my pouch.

This’ll be fine, it’s just my first time celebrating the Full Moon.

I glanced back at Triton, to see him watching me.

He smiled, giving me a nod.

Yeah, okay.

I focused on what he told me for this. I just need to do my thing, not everyone else’s.

I held out the mirror as others did, letting the light of the Full Moon shine on it, and recited the prayer to Selene.

_“Selene ert Ponisi, teye tivena pora eretamu ert pyev y haho ert moareno horenu.”_

_“Topsana Selene, ponirahiv sanamak ivemu ert mireona wasare, tav havu rao opuno tenuk.”_

_“Matpe av ert pohur, Selene av ert Ponisi, erta pohur tav hinru rao opuno hamuso pora ela pahiti y pora patua opu ro ert muro.”_

_“Maotiman opu ela tie tav tufe ert po, amavhova ro topta poniov.”_

I paused for breath, basking in the power that seemed to hum in the air. Everyone was reciting prayers to different Moon Gods, and the water was practically radiating Their presence.

I licked my lips and recited the prayer to Artemis as well.

_“Artemis ert hauvuatono, teye eretamuna ert hauvuat av Selene, tav havu ri era pohur.”_

_“Artemis ert kaluha-ve, teye tahouna opuno ponio rao ert ponisino hamuso, tav hinup opu maiv kaluha.”_

_“Artemis av Delos, maotiman opuno hamuso ela wasai y opuno pohur waoituk uti erva opu maotiman teuhamu ary apima.”_

The mirror shone brilliantly by the end of the prayers, the silver metal reflecting the moonlight and seeming to glow all on its own. The water wasn’t much different, glowing faintly with the light of the moon.

“Wow,” I whispered as everyone’s prayers finished off.

Lorenzo grinned, “It’s a lovely ceremony isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said with a grin of my own. “It’s really nice.”

We didn’t talk much, just drifted and basked in the moonlight.

It was lovely.

As the moon slowly began to set once more, we tucked our mirrors away again and trading a few last ponofa.

“Did you enjoy it?” Triton asked as I swam over.

I nodded, “Yeah! I wish I’d been able to do it before.”

Triton pursed his lips as he nudged Chelsea and Belle from where they were curled.

“You may have missed it before, but you won’t have to miss any more Full Moon celebrations. And for any you can’t come to the sea for, we’ll make sure you also have a mirror for land.”

I brightened, “Really?”

He nodded, “You’ll just need the mirror, and really you can do it without it. Just the prayer honors the Moon Gods, but the mirror is for continuing the honor through the month. There are substitutes of course, but the mirrors work the best.”

I nodded, settling on Chelsea.

“I have a lot to learn about our traditions.”

“You do,” Triton agreed. “But we’re here to teach you. You won’t be alone.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I stood outside the new apartment, biting my lip as I hesitated.

It’s been forever since I saw mom, and I miss her loads, and she’s right inside that door, but…

I took a deep breath, shouldering my backpack and clutching the travel bag at my side. This is fine. I’m gonna go in, I’m gonna hug her, I’m not gonna cry or anything cause it’s all good.

I reached up and knocked, rocking back on my heels.

I heard footsteps, and then the door swung open, revealing my mom.

“Oh, Percy,” she beamed and reached out.

I dropped my bag, lunging forward to hug her.

“Hi, mom,” I whispered.

“Oh, my baby,” she whispered. “I missed you.”

She pulled back, studying me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

She let out a breath, “Alright, come in, honey. I made cookies, oh let me show you your room. We’ll need to get stuff for your room too. Oh, and school stuff.”

She ushered me inside, taking my bag and leading the way to my room.

The apartment was much nicer than the previous one. The door opened straight into the kitchen and living room space, and I could see a breakfast nook in the corner by the window on the living room side.

The area smelled of cookies, and the kitchen had new appliances. The couch was even leather, and had soft blankets laying on it.

Mom led me past an open door that held what I guessed was a guest room, another open door with an office inside, and then stopped at a closed door.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do anything special for your room, so I just painted it and put the basics in. We’ll go shopping for stuff in it later today.”

I opened the door and stepped in.

The walls were a cobalt blue, with a bed in the right corner and a bookshelf of cubby holes at the base of it. To the right were two dressers and against the right wall was a desk with bookshelves beside it. The floor was covered in a carpet that actually looked comfy.

It was mostly empty, with the bags we’d left at the beach sitting on the desk and my old books on the bookshelf.

“The bathroom is across the hall, and my room is the last door at the end of the hall.”

I nodded, moving over to drop my bag on the bed, “It’s awesome mom.” I turned to grin at her. “Thanks.”

I studied the cubby hole bookshelf thing at the base of the bed.

“I thought that would be good for anything you wanted by the bed,” mom said. “Or for books, or just nicknacks… I had the Lotus card and grabbed a lot of things that I just thought would be nice.”

I laughed, “No it’s fine, and… I think this would be good for making altars…”

I looked at her a bit nervously, Annabeth’s experience with her step-mom and how she treated her religion in my mind.

“Oh that’s a lovely idea, Percy,” she murmured as she came over to me, laying the bag she was holding on the bed. “Yes absolutely, we can buy some things for altars in your room today. And we’ll set up on in the living room as well, as a family one.”

I couldn’t help but grin, “Yeah, that would be great.”

She ran a hand through my hair, a smile on her face.

“Why don’t you put your stuff down and get ready and we can go shopping?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be ready in a sec.”

She left my room, closing the door softly behind her, and I dropped my backpack on the bed.

My room really does look nice. It’ll be fun to put everything up and decorate.

I grinned at the thought of making altars, I’m gonna make a bunch of mini ones! The cubby holes are perfectly sized for small altars, so I can make one for Artemis, and Selene, and Triton, and Metua, and maybe just a general one for my family in the sea… plus Oceanus and Tethys… yeah, that would probably be smartest. But I can make one for Lord D too. And Hestia, She needs one.

I chewed my lip, I should probably grab stuff for all of Them, cause there are also the holidays. Even if I’m not at camp I wanna celebrate them all.

This is gonna be fun though, that card was definitely my best grab on the quest.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Mom and I walked to the nearby department store, a list in her hand for the main things for my room, and a list I’d made for things on an altar. 

I don’t actually know what exactly you need on an altar, I’ve seen the ones in the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins, so I have an idea of what goes on them. Plus, the one in the ocean, in my room. It holds the silver mirror (the sea one, I have another made for land), plus a carved-out space for offerings.

But that’s different then on land.

I’m pretty sure I need an altar cloth, and something for the offerings. And candles, a lot of candles. Candles are important for land offerings from what I saw. And then just things to decorate?

I dunno, but I’m gonna try to get things that match them.

First was my bedroom stuff though.

First stop was bedding. I found a really cool one that had waves and seashells on it, so mom got that. She just asked them to deliver it to the apartment, with the Lotus card we can do that. I wonder if they’ll ever notice us using it?

Then we got stuff for my desk, paper, pencils, pens, notebooks, notecards, mom added some art supplies to the pile, and highlighters and rulers, and a pencil sharpener (mechanical), and a charging extension cord, and a little caddy to hold the stuff on my desk.

After that was the bookstore, mom said we should grab my school books and any other interesting ones. She also promised me audio books and let me pick out different books on the myths. There were some interesting ones, I hadn’t read Song of Achilles yet.

After that mom just led the way around, checking out different stores. We grabbed stuff for the bathroom, some extra socks and underwear, a small fan for my room, a planner, some snacks.

Then we found a store with pretty cloths, and I grinned as I stared around at all the cloths.

Ooh, there’s a really nice blue and green patterned cloth that would be perfect for the altar for Poseidon and Triton and Oceanus and Tethys the rest of my sea family. And oh! There’s a silver one with little stars on it! And that one is a really deep red, almost purple, maroon? Looks like wine.

I paused as I found some head scarves, remembering what I’d learned about veiling. Well… it wouldn’t hurt to have a few, and I do use magic and those that use magic tend to veil…

“Did you find something Percy?” Mom asked as she came over, more cloths in her arms.

“Um, some headscarves… I was just thinking about veiling. Annabeth showed me how.”

“Oh,” she hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know much about it, would you like some?”

I peered at her shyly, “Yeah… I think I would.”

She smiled, “Then pick a few out. Maybe you can teach me about veiling.”

“Yeah, sure!”

I grinned as I looked through the scarves, finding a deep blue one that was obviously the best there, it’s blue after all. I grabbed two white ones, one of them with lace edging it (mom would like that I think). Ooh, there’s an avatar one! With water tribe symbols on it.

I stuck that in the basket, it’s second only to the blue one.

There was a soft yellow one with orange sun patterns that I liked, mom grabbed a matching one (but white with gold suns). Mom also snagged two green ones, one with flower embroidery the other with vine embroidery while I eyed a sparkly rainbow one.

“Oh look,” mom said holding up a scarf. “It’s the hunger games.”

I laughed, I’d listened to the audio books before and enjoyed the books. I didn’t expect a scarf though.

Mom put it in the basket with a grin.

“I think these are good,” I said. “I know a few styles that Annabeth taught me, so I can show you them.”

“That would be wonderful, Percy,” mom said with a fond smile.

I felt warm, happy and comfortable. Mom isn’t anything like Annabeth’s step-mom, mom wants to learn about the Greek culture, not dismiss it.

“Well, anything else we need from here?”

I considered for a moment, “No, I don’t think there’s anything else here.”

“Alright, lets check out then go find another store with more supplies.”

Mom checked us out, then led the way back around the department store (which was really multiple stores put together).

We wandered a little while but only managed to find glasses for libations, and a bunch of candles in every color we could find (both the tall ones and those tea-lights). Oh, and a wax melter plus some wax, mom thought that would smell nice.

Mom hummed, and led the way out again, “We’ll have to find a thrift shop, or an antiques store, I think. Those will have the kinds of nick-nacks that would work best for an altar.”

I nodded, struggling with the bags and wishing I was back underwater where everything is lighter. It’s hard to do things on land again.

Plus, walking is annoying, I definitely prefer swimming. I don’t trip when I swim.

We brought everything in the bags home for now, dropping the bags in the rooms the stuff would go in.

Mom helped me make my bed first and put the desk stuff where it goes and the books on the shelf, then put up the food she’d bought. The scarves and other stuff for the altars were left in the living room for the moment.

“Alright,” she said cheerfully. “I found an antique shop nearby, and there’s a thrift shop not too far from it. Are you all set to go?”

“Yep!”

“Then let’s head out again.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

It took three antique shops and two thrift shops before me and mom were satisfied.

I got this really cool shell bowl for the sea altar, and a fancy like… tiered thing? It was made out of silver and patterned like waves. Oh, and jewelry, mom let me buy a few fancy jewelries for the altar.

We even found a pretty water display thing, a mini fountain. It would be easy to decorate it with small shells and put a candle on the part that was above the water.

Mom found a great candle stick too, to match the candle holder, it was made up of a bunch of fake shells and had a small spot in the center for the tall candles, with a bigger flat area around it for the bigger ones. And I found a bag of assorted shells, and a few fancy candle holder that was blue and gold and made me think of the sea on the beach.

Then of course was the moon candle holder that I’m putting on the altar to Artemis and Selene. It’s got three crescent moons with the curved parts all facing the center that’s shaped to hold a tea-light.

And mom found a little silver stag that was just perfect, plus fake amaranth flowers (they look like the little red flowers outside of the Artemis cabin that I’d never really given much thought to).

And I managed to find a collection of moonstones that should be great, and a like… mini cake plate, with stars on it, that would be good for an offering place. Mom also found something for an offering bowl and decided to get both.

Getting stuff for Hestia wasn’t too hard. I found a few stones that looked nice, and some fancy looking candles, round and red and orange. I found a mini bonfire thing, with a set up that looked like a bonfire and a spot in the middle for a tea-light.

I also found a statue of a fire and an old cookbook.

I think these would work well for Her, She seemed to like cooking during the times I talked with Her at camp.

Finding stuff for Lord D was actually the easiest, there’s a lot of grape themed stuff, I’m not sure why though. But I got a tiered thing with grape patterns all over it, and an offering plate with pinecones on it, and a jug thing that mom said is for alcohol and a fancy looking cup, also with grapes on it.

Why do adults like grapes so much?

Anyways, that covered the main altars I wanted.

Mom also found some other stuff, incense and incense holders, statues, vases and jugs, other pretty stones, more fancy candles, a few assorted animal figurines, some assorted jewelry, and a lot of fake flowers.

I studied it all, “Do we need so much?”

She hummed, “Well, we can get it thanks to the Lotus card, and I thought we might want to be able to adjust the altar to the seasons… plus well, I’m not entirely sure what goes on them so I’m getting a little bit of everything.”

I grinned, that’s fair, I also don’t know what is supposed to go on them.

We were heading back to the house when we passed a skateboard shop and I paused.

Skate boarding is kinda like land current surfing isn’t it? Could that help me get good at it?

I hesitated, staring into the shop.

“Did you want something?” Mom asked.

I bit my lip, “I kinda want… I mean… it looks fun?”

She smiled, “Why don’t you get one, and safety gear.”

I nodded slowly, pushing into the store.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

We got home with a bunch more bags, and a bunch of stuff to put up.

While most of what we’d gotten was for the altars on this trip out, I’d also grabbed some things that just looked cool, and mom had too. Plus of course, the skateboard.

First thing I did was put the skateboard in the corner of my room, along with all the safety stuff. I’ll try it out later.

Mom grabbed me cleaning supplies, so I could wipe down the cubbies I was gonna use for the altars, and then left me to set it up.

I first cleaned the altars, so they’d be nice and neat, then laid out the cloths for them.

I’m setting up four, one for Lord D, one for Hestia, one for Selene and Artemis, and one for all the assorted sea deities. There’s too many for separate altars.

Setting up Lord D’s was quick, I put the tiered thing in the center middle, and a candle holder on each side. In front of those I put the altar plate with pinecones on it, and then behind them I put the cup and the jug for alcohol.

Hestia’s I set up to remind me of the camp fire at camp. I put the bonfire candle holder in the center, with the stones around it. I put the different rounded candles around it one in each corner, and the stone fire in the back (centered). The cookbook I leaned against the right side of the cubby.

Artemis and Selene’s I put the candle holder in the center (it feels right for the candles to be centered). I decorated the area on both sides and behind with the fake amaranth flowers and moon stones. The silver stag I arranged on one side, amongst some moonstones, and then I put the offering plate in the front center. The silver mirror I brought up from the sea I put on the top of the cubby, so that the mirror was looking down at the altar. Thank you command strips.

The sea altar was definitely my favorite, though I’m probably biased.

The mini fountain water thing was put in the center, and I put a small blue tea-light on the spot for candles.

I put the candle holders on either side and just in front of it, like five of them, and put a candle in each of them. Then I decorated the whole area around it with shells, and put some in the fountain thing, then filled it with water.

In the front center went the shell bowl I was using for an offering plate.

It looked very nice if I do say so myself.

I stepped away when I finished, turning to throw everything in the trash, and did a double take.

In the right corner of my room, opposite side of where I’d put the skateboard, stood a long table with a large fish tank on it.

It was filled and had a rocky/sandy bottom and assorted coral creations. Inside was a familiar figure.

“Hippolyta!”

She curled around one of the corals, tilting her head as excitement radiated from her.

I grinned, now my room is perfect.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Antonio POV**

I watched the three kids stumble over themselves as they tried to set up our base of operations while we guard Perseus-aia.

None of them have done much moving on land, and the different in weight and gravity is a struggle. Plus having legs instead of tails.

“Wait where’s my dagger?” Klara called as she tripped over a box of supplies.

“Don’t break my storm bottles!” Acantha cried as she scrambled over to Klara to check the box. “Oh good, my babies are okay.”

“My dagger though?”

“I dunno, ask Kai.”

I sighed as Kai looked up from their book on algebra (some human name for a specific branch of math).

“What?”

“My dagger! I found my trident, and my spear, and both of my swords, plus my different knives, and my net, but I can’t find my bigger dagger, I had four and found three of them.”

“Why didn’t you just put them all in the same package?” Kai wondered.

“I’ll shove them all in you if you don’t help me find them,” she hissed.

“Tamapuv,” I chided. “Kai keep reading, Klara please don’t threaten your team mates, Acantha the storm bottles are double, and triple, wrapped, they’re safe, help Klara find her missing dagger.”

“Yes, Antonio-fu’oro,” the three grumbled.

Kai looked back at his book, their eyebrows furrowed as they tried to understand it.

Better him than me.

“Antonio-fu’oro,” Acantha said after a moment. “When does this class start, the one where we guard Perseus-aia?”

“In a few days, on the fifth of the land month…” I paused, trying to remember what the land month was… or at least the American land month… are there different land months?

“September,” Kai muttered. “Land month of September. Don’t forget about parent-teacher conferences.”

I sighed, “Right. You should also make sure you know the land calendars, and their time system.”

“They use those minutes and hours, right?” Klara asked as she dug through a box. “It’s so weird.”

“I guess they don’t have the tide inland, though I can’t imagine not having the tides.”

“They go by the sun,” Kai said. “Or they originally did. They did their hours by how the sun made shadows, now it works a bit different but still on the same idea.”

“Found it!” Klara called, pushing out from a box with her dagger clutched in hand.

“Excellent, are your bags for school packed?”

“But that’s not for a few more days!” Klara cried.

“Mine is,” Kai mumbled.

“I have my stuff in one place?” Acantha offered.

I sighed, “Right, well, get it all together. We need to scout out the area for good paths to guard Perseus-aia on his way to school. And make sure we know any threats nearby.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Klara said.

I moved over to grab a box and cursed quietly as my foot caught on the ground and I toppled over.

“I hate land,” Acantha said.

I sighed, this was going to be a long mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of the Full Moon ceremony? And Percy going home? What about his altars? How do you think his guards will do?
> 
> ~~OC's~~  
> Lorenzo: merman, son of two generals  
> Camila=Lorenzo's mom  
> Antonio= the leader of Percy's guards, the only adult (or well, adult adult)  
> Klara= girl, likes weapons, one of Percy's guards  
> Acantha=girl, likes her storm bottles, one of Percy's guards  
> Kai=demi-boy, likes books, one of Percy's guards
> 
> ~~Halmaheran~~  
> Ponofa=moon cakes  
> Tetomoa=Atlantis Camp
> 
> ~~Suffixes~~  
> aia=prince  
> re'aia=crown prince  
> nie=general
> 
> ~~Prayers~~  
> 1.  
> Selene the Moon, who rises to guide the tides and pull the oceans deep.  
> All-shining Selene, moonbeams gleaming over the salty sea, we thank you for your presence.  
> Eye of the night, Selene of the Moon, tonight we pray for your passage to be safe and to greet you in the next.  
> May you be with us even when all is dark, radiant in all times.
> 
> 2.  
> Artemis the charioteer, who guides the chariot of Selene, we thank you on this night.  
> Artemis the huntress, who gives your time for the moons passage, we wish you good hunt.  
> Artemis of Delos, may your passage be calm and your night peaceful so that you may journey again anew.


	8. Schools of Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyclops meetings and Family bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right! Three things real quick.
> 
> One: do not sexualize the characters in my comments :) At all :) 
> 
> Two: Please don't request ships, those are not open for requests. Also don't tell me you hate the ships I do, it's really really annoying. Like don't say "i'd rather it be gay" that's... upsetting. I'm bi, bi people do not have to get with the same gender to be bi. Please respect that the characters may not get with the same gender and don't tell me you'd rather it be that it sounds sexualizing the way people keep phrasing it.
> 
> Three: I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you want to give constructive criticism point out the grammar/spelling errors or cultural/identity errors done (the later only if you are of those cultures or identities). Don't tell me what I should be doing with the story for plot or pacing, I have people I turn to for that. It's not helpful and is tiring. You're not special in telling me how to do things, loads of people think their opinion is the right one. If you want a story written one way, then go write one.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Some things happened in it that weren't planned at all so I've had to split up the outline for this chapter, we got through a grand total of 3 scenes for this chapter that were on my 15 scene outline for it alkdsnfa. It was getting too long.
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/7992xenXkq

I hummed around the ice cream, “This is good.”

“It’s the best ice cream joint in the city,” Drew said with a smirk. “Has the best flavors.”

“They have cool flavors,” I added, licking my mermaid ice cream. Tastes like key lime pie, it’s delicious.

“Big Gay Ice Cream is fabulous,” she agreed. “I love the Rufus, but the short berry straw cake is great too.”

“The Rufus kinda looks like a sundae,” I said, grinning a bit at the name of the ice cream place we were at.

“It basically is, but it’s fancier, and delicious.”

I laughed, “I’ve only had McDonalds ice cream before, and that machine is broken half the time.”

She looked horrified, “Oh honey, no. Absolutely not. That machine ice cream is so bad, they almost never clean it and-“ she shudders “-I’m taking you to all the ice cream places, you will have good food.”

I flushed, “That isn’t necessary-“

“It’ll be fun. You can judge them too!”

I smiled nervously, chewing on the plastic spoon.

“Well anyways, now that we’ve got the ice cream,” she grinned. “Present time!”

“Presents?” I said in confusion, vaguely remembering her mentioning them before she’d signed off our call in the sea. “But I thought that the ice cream was the present?”

“Nope!”

She grabbed the bag by her side and started digging through it. I just thought she’d been going to a friend’s house after and had stuff in the bag, but apparently not.

“Okay, so mine first of course.”

I blinked at the slightly smushed present bag set in front of me and quickly balanced the ice cream in the bowl I was given.

“Um, okay.”

I dug through the tissue paper and pulled out the box on the top.

It’s… a fancy bag/box. Blue with sea shells on it. I opened the top and did a double take at the layered sections for makeup.

“Oh,” I said as I picked up the foundation.

“I told you I was buying you makeup,” she said primly. “I’ll show you how to use it later.”

I nodded, it’s a full thing… I think… I don’t know much about makeup beyond what I’ve learned from the rants at the Aphrodite cabin.

“Cool,” I said. “Think I can pull off the blue eye shadow?”

She snorted, grinning at me, “Let’s start with natural looks. There’s more in the bag.”

I hummed and shut the makeup kit, setting it to the side as I dug through the bag and pulled out a book.

“On the Festivals of Dionysus, by Pherecydes of Leros. I’ve never heard of this?”

She nodded, “Yeah, it’s from Chiron’s private collection. You have to be sixteen, a counselor, and have another counselor vouching for you to get access. It’s one of the lost works, he transcribed them into books and preserved them. The Athena and Apollo cabins constantly try to break in.”

I blinked, staring at the apparently lost book, “Then how did you gift me a copy?” because that’s… crazy.

“Oh, I asked Castor and Pollux to ask Mr. D for a copy for your birthday. It was in my room the next morning.”

I gaped, “Oh…” I didn’t realize that they liked me enough for that.

“Anyways,” she grinned. “There’s one more thing in there.”

I huffed, grinning at her, “You didn’t have to get me all of this.”

“I wanted to, so get the last thing so I can shove the rest of the presents on you.”

I dug through the bag again and felt something soft at the bottom. I pulled it out and gasped at the pretty fabric.

It was a veil, a shimmery deep turquoise with curling deeper green wave patterns on it.

“Oh wow,” I whispered.

She beamed, “I’m glad you like it. Ava from the Athena cabin made it at my request.”

“It’s amazing,” I said earnestly. “Havu- er, thank you.”

“You can open the rest later,” she said cheerfully. “But I wanted to see you open mine.”

I nodded, accepting the bag when she passed it over. “Thank you, I really love them.”

The bag was heavy but not _too_ heavy. It just felt like it had a lot in it.

I set it by me and settled in to finish my ice cream and conversation with Drew.

“So,” she asked. “Will you be going back into the ocean?”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Triton came with to see me off to school!

It had been less than a week, but I already missed him, I got too used to seeing him every day when I was in the sea.

“I managed to trick the others into thinking I was off for Godly stuff,” Triton muttered. “Otherwise they would’ve followed me.”

I blinked, “Why?”

He snorted, “They adore you. Or they want to annoy me. It’s a mix, don’t go with Khrysaôr anywhere, he will likely take you either someplace horribly dangerous, or someplace you’re far too young for.”

I nodded solemnly.

“Your school looks… interesting,” Triton said as we arrived.

I nodded, staring up at it, Meriwether College Prep School.

The school was a large brick building with big red doors. I’m not sure why they’re bright red like that.

“Why are the doors red though?” Triton asked, echoing my thoughts.

I giggled, “They like Ares a bunch?”

He snorted, “That’s not a good sign for a school, you’re supposed to be at peace there.”

“Have you ever been to a school?” I asked. Everyone knows that schools are not peaceful.

He looked worried, “No… I had tutors… Percy-“

I hugged him, then mom, “Love you guys bye!”

“Wait, Percy what do that mean? Are schools not peaceful?”

“Love you!”

“Percy!”

I heard mom laughing behind me as I hurried into the school.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

School was interesting, kinda fun. We found our homerooms, got our schedules, and were left to chat alone for a bit.

I studied the students for a minute. There were a lot of them, talking over each other as they introduced themselves.

The ones on my right had turned to talk to the kid on… her? His? Their? Right, while the ones in front of me were all leaning together.

The kid on my left was big, easily taller than me (though _every kid in the room was_ , why am I doomed to be short), by like three heads.

Not that he had three heads mind you.

“Hi,” I said.

He turned to me, and I did a double take, he’s only got one eye. Cyclops.

“Hi,” he mumbled.

Well, he doesn’t _seem_ murderous. I can work with this until I see Triton again.

“I’m Percy, what’s your name?”

He peered at me, his one eye big and sad and scared. “I’m Tyson.”

He’s afraid and adorable. I’m keeping him.

“Nice to meet you!” I beamed at him.

He blinked, “Nice to meet you too.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The school day was mostly fun. We went through all of our classes, I share four of my seven classes with Tyson, though we don’t sit next to each other in all of them. There are a few other students I got to know too.

Klara was nice, really bubbly and fun to talk to. I was in History with her.

My group in Portuguese was a lot of fun, though I wasn’t with Tyson. Kai seems smart and has a nice accent that reminds me of Fetu, Zoey offered us bubblegum and informed me my blue hair was amazing and who did it she wants that shade of blue, and Nikola looked ready to fall asleep but said hi and he liked my necklaces.

Science we were in groups of two and I was with Tyson again, but Klara (from history!) was at the table behind me with some kid named Matt. He wasn’t very nice, apparently wearing pretty jewelry and having blue hair makes someone gay.

In band we were put in groups based on our instrument, the band instructor was interested in my ocarina, but it also meant I was alone. He told me he’d put me with the wind instruments later.

English was a small class, and the seats put along the walls. I had Kai right in front of me, a girl named Lillian (call me Lily) to my right, and a boy named Xavier to my left. The teacher had us go through the syllabus and reminded us to get it signed (which made me realize I probably needed to get the others signed) then started a lesson on symbolism in stories.

Math was painful, but I shared the class with Tyson, even if we were on opposite sides of the room. I was in the back, and beside me was Acantha, she was fun but was confused on what “Algebra” was. Apparently, she just moved here, and they didn’t have Algebra where she’s from. I can’t decide if that’s lucky or unlucky for her.

PE was my least favorite class though.

We had an “baseline physical exam” which I thought I’d be good for. I spent all summer training after all.

I was not good for it.

I also hate being on land.

I tripped a dozen times doing the running portion, falling on my face half the time, dropped three of the weights, accidentally punched one kid (Derek I learned when his friend panicked) in the nose when I lost grip on the band. I could do the chin lift though.

Acantha and Kai were doing nearly as bad as me though. I’m not sure why they’re doing so badly, did their old school not have physical education? Whatever the reason it was a wreck for them as well.

At least the day was over now so I can go home and rest.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

“How was your day at school, Perseus?”

I blinked at Kymopoleia, who was standing in my living room (looking mostly human) with a grin. Her long blue hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and I realized underneath it was red.

Wait that’s super cool I want dual toned hair.

“Um… good? I… wasn’t expecting you…”

“I thought I’d pop in! Triton tried to sneak away this morning but anyone with sense knew that he was visiting you.”

“Oh… well uh, it’s nice to see you again, Kymopoleia.”

“Always a pleasure, tiny brother of mine. What was your day at mortal school like?”

“Oh,” I sat where she motioned. “We had syllabuses today, and a few small lessons.”

She snapped her fingers and snacks appeared on the low table as she dropped dramatically onto the other couch.

“What’s a syllabus?”

I peaked at her, then took on of the snacks when she motioned towards them with a grin.

“It’s like an outline of the semester, what we’ll do and the rules of the classroom.”

“Sounds boring,” she drawled as she popped a piece of fish in her mouth.

I shrugged, “I have to get mom to sign it, so I can turn it in.”

She frowned, “You turn in your guidelines and rules?”

“Yeah,” I said as I munched on some crab leg.

“That’s so weird. What lessons did you guys have today?”

I paused, trying to remember. We uh… did syllabuses and… I think something in English? Oh yeah!

“We started on symbolism in English, in like books and stuff. Everyone will be turning in their summer work tomorrow, but since I transferred I don’t have to.”

“Huh, sounds incredibly boring,” she said with a nod. “Do you guys just sit in a classroom all day?”

“No,” I shifted as I realized I was bouncing my leg. “We also have PE and band.”

“What’s PE?” She wondered as she snagged some berries.

“Physical Education, it was horrible. I’m not used to moving on land again yet.”

“Well,” she swallowed. “The ocean is far superior to the sea anyways so moving on land isn’t super important.”

I smiled, “Yeah, but I need to work on that since I live on land.”

“You wouldn’t need to if you moved to the sea.”

I squinted at her, but she just smiled.

“Anyways,” I said. “I don’t have any homework besides the syllabus today.”

“Awesome! Then I’ll take you someplace cool.”

I blinked, “What?”

“What’s it you call it on land? Plain Trip? Well, Plain Trip time!”

“Field Trip-“ I was cut off as I yelped when we were suddenly someplace else in a coiling spiral.

What.

“Time for your first storm making lesson!” Kymopoleia chirped

Oh.

Oh, wait that’s cool.

“Really!”

“Yep! I grabbed your storm guide for you already.”

She passed me the spinning top thing she gave me for my birthday (I guess it’s called a storm guide).

“So, lets get to work on your storms.”

She held out her hand and almost instantly a spiral of wind and water curled until she was holding a mini storm cloud, lightning crackled through it, rain fell, just… mini.

“Oh Pontus,” I whispered. “How-“

I leaned closer staring in awe at the tiny storm.

She preened as I stared at it, watching me with a wicked grin.

“You’ll start with trying to make the clouds, then move on to rain, then friction, then lightning. If you seem to lean towards a specific kind of storm, we’ll work on those first.”

She paused here, studying me with a gleam in her eye. “Triton did mention you were good with ice, which is odd seeing how that isn’t really something Metu specializes in, nor any of us.”

I shrugged, I don’t know why it’s so easy for me.

“Well, it might mean you can make hail storms which are usually harder for me to make, so we’ll see. Anyways!”

She motioned towards me, dispersing her storm.

“What do I do first?” I asked excitedly as I clutched my storm guide.

“We’ll start by having you make mini storms first. They’ll be small, fitting in the palm of your hand.”

I stared down at my hands. I was gonna make a small storm like the one she did? That’s so cool.

“Once you’ve got that down we’ll slowly make them larger, over both hands, then large enough to hold, eventually we’ll get you up to small personal storms. One day you might be able to make one’s big enough to cover a city!”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Your storm guide will help you at the beginning, it gathers the wind for you since most of the sea have very minimal control of winds, mostly revolving around storms. But that takes training.”

It’s like air bending, but limited.

I held the storm guide curiously, “What do I do with it?”

She pulled a second one out, holding it in the palm of her hand.

“First you spin it,” she said as she spun the storm guide. “It’s got ivuisav on it that gather wind and channel it.”

Runes, sea runes. Okay, that’s cool, they’re hard to learn and I still only know a few.

“Is it hard to learn those ivuisav?” I want to know how to make something that can control winds! Like Aang!

She paused, tilting her head.

“Are you trying to add ivuisav to your list of magics?”

“I know a few,” I said earnestly.

She laughed, “Most of us know a few, but being skilled with them is something else entirely, and I don’t think that’ll be something that you’re naturally good at.”

I frowned, staring down at the storm guide in my hand. “Why not?”

She stopped her guide, letting the winds calm.

Something seemed to change in her attitude, her gaze intent as she studied me.

“Hmm, that’s right, you didn’t have tutors. I’m sure your tutor will cover this at some point now that you have one-“

“Please tell me now?” I pleaded with wide eyes. “I want to know why I’m good at some magics and not others. And why I wouldn’t be good at ivuisav.”

She leaned back, “Oh you’ve got amazing baby seal eyes. Do you use those on Triton? Use those on Triton.”

I blinked in confusion.

She groaned, “Oh fine. Okay so basically, you’re best at Thermomancy, it’s your niche. Most people of the sea have something they just… fit with. That doesn’t mean they’re going to be great at it, but it will come easier than other things.”

I nodded, Triton told me about that.

“And then you’re also good at Purification, very good at it even. That doesn’t always… hmm, match. Yeah, it doesn’t always match with Thermomancy, skilled Thermomancers have no need for pure water as they can just manipulate it anyways. So really it’s not super common for skilled Thermomancers to also be good at Purification, usually they work in teams.”

I frowned, I didn’t realize that. It’s not much harder for me to control the polluted water than it is the clean water. Apparently that’s uncommon?

“It’s not like, never happening,” she added. “Just not common. Several of Okeanus and Tethys’ kids have that skill, and a variety from many other seas. It’s just a bit strange with a child of Poseidon.”

I nodded, smiling. So not super rare, but just odd. I’m fine with that, Katara was also super good at a lot of areas and that didn’t seem common.

“Then you also have a bit of a knack for the Siren’s Song. All those of the Greek bloodline tend to have some skill with it, in some fashion, and many of other bloodlines have skills in it or something similar.”

What do the other seas do with it? That’s really interesting, I’ll have to see if I can’t learn about that.

“You’ve been doing really well at it though, and that’s surprising. Benthesikyme is probably the best amongst us at Siren’s Song, and Triton and Herophile behind her, but it isn’t very common for Poseidon kids.”

“It isn’t?”

“Nope. Most of his kids are best at hydromancy, cyclomancy, like me, geomancy, purification, or prophecy.

Those were some new terms. “Is cyclomancy calling storms then?”

“Yeah, and geomancy is controlling the earth.”

“Like Lara!”

She stared at me, “How do you know about her? She died… forever ago, and isn’t even on the list of Metuno kids.”

“I… had a dream…”

She hummed, “Now that’s fun. Please bring her up to Metu sometime, I wanna see his face.”

Her gaze dropped to my neck, “Though I see you’re wearing the necklace he gives to his kids.”

I touched the necklace, just like Lara’s, “Yeah… Though it keeps getting tangled with my camp one. Wearing multiple necklaces is hard.”

“Remind me to show you some tricks when we’re done with the storms,” she said with a wink. “Anyways, back on topic.”

“What was the topic again?” I asked as I tried to remember what we were talking about last.

“Uh…”

We both stood silently for a moment.

“Siren’s Song!” She nodded. “That was it.”

“Oh yeah,” I mumbled. “Then we started talking about the other stuff Poseidon kids are good at…”

“Yep, well anyways. It’s a bit surprising that you’re good at all three, while they all require strong will, concentration, and instincts, they’re otherwise not commonly matched up… or well, Thermomancy and Purification or Siren’s Song aren’t, Siren’s Song and Purification aren’t that uncommon to be paired.”

“Yeah, I know a few mers are learning the song to support their Purification.”

“Yep, those who weaponize the Song alone are few and far between.”

“Fetu is gonna do that,” I mused.

“Fetu is going to be a force of nature and you did well to befriend him now,” Kymopoleia said firmly. “Also, you two are adorable together and it makes Triton have an aneurysm.”

I blinked in confusion.

“Anyways, your combo of skills are all very omteot based. Ivuisav are very much not, they’re all about small details, lots of studying, and an instinctive knowledge of the language, at least for true masters. It’s things that you don’t have a natural leaning towards.”

“Oh,” I frowned.

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn it,” she added. “Plenty do learn things they’re not naturals at. But it’s usually better to work towards what you’re good at, and it will take you a lot more work to master ivuisav then it would will any of the skills you’ve been working on so far. And those skills would likely suffer for it as you wouldn’t have the time to devote to them.”

“Oh… that makes sense… I just-“ I bit my lip. “I want to learn everything I can…”

She hummed, a gleam in her eye, “Well, you can certainly study ivuisav, I know some _fun_ ones.”

She grinned, sharp teeth flashing.

“We’ll talk about that another time. For now, you’re gonna get your top working.”

I grinned, “You just spin it?”

“Nope, try it.”

I studied the top in my hand but shrugged and spun it.

It did maybe one turn before flopping.

“What-“

“The top requires your power still,” she said. “Now try to channel your power in it.”

I nodded, focusing on the top as I tried to push my power into it like with the water.

It flopped again.

I glared at it.

This is gonna take a while.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Me and mom were making dinner, and baking dessert.

I spent two whole hours trying to make the top spin, Kymopoleia didn’t give me much more advice than what she said at the beginning.

Maybe I’m putting my power in it wrong? I should ask her to show me again without my necklace on, so I can sense what she did.

I carefully didn’t touch my necklaces, my hands were covered in the whip cream from making the trifle (a new desert mom wanted to try out, we’re making a chocolate version). Mom already had the cakes done for it by the time we got back.

Kymopoleia stayed long enough to help me move the bead from the camp necklace to the shell necklace Metua gave me, making it only two necklaces now (and it was cool).

The unevenness bugged me a big, but Kymopoleia said she’d fix it.

She’s a lot of fun, even if she’s mean and won’t explain how to make the top work right.

She refused to stay for dinner though, just ruffled my hair and told me to not create any cool storms without her.

“Percy, did you finish putting the trifles together?”

I studied the treat in the dish in front of me. The chocolate sauce and whip cream layers alternating, with layers of chocolate pieces breaking it up.

“I think so?”

Mom leaned over my shoulder, “Those look good. Lets stick them in fridge and we’ll have them after dinner.”

Mom set the table nicely, with the lamb she’d cooked in the center and mac-n-cheese in a dish to the side.

She poured me some sparkling grape juice to have with it.

“Alright, let’s have dinner.”

I swung my legs and happily got a lot of the mac-n-cheese while mom cut a slice of lamb for me.

“The Lotus card really is wonderful,” mom said. “I’m seeing about pulling cash out with it, since we’re not sure if it’ll be cancelled at some point.”

I nodded, that sounds smart.

Oh the lamb is really good!

“I was wondering if you wanted an allowance?”

I blinked, “Allowance?”

Like, get money… without doing things?

“You’re going to be working a lot this year, between school, and the undersea camp, and your tutor… If you keep up with all your work, I’ll do an allowance.”

I brightened, that would be nice.

“Really?”

“Yep. If you manage to get all your grades as C’s or above this semester we’ll do something extra, maybe a small vacation.”

I beamed, “I can do that!”

Maybe, possibly… I can at least try.

She smiled, “I know you can. How was your first day of school?”

I hummed, swinging my legs as I considered it.

“It wasn’t bad. There are some nice people in my class… oh yeah! I forgot to tell Kymopoleia. One of my classmates is a Cyclops, his name is Tyson and he’s really nice.”

She pursed her lips, “He doesn’t seem dangerous?”

“No, but I can go to school without my necklace tomorrow if you want… to check…”

“No, no, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

I nodded, chewing my lip.

“If he seems safe then maybe you can make friends with him.”

“I hope so,” I mumbled. “He seemed scared.”

She smiled, “Well, you’ll make sure he’s safe, won’t you?”

I nodded, smiling brightly.

“Yeah, we’ll be great friends.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I didn’t have any tutoring sessions for a week. They said they wanted me to have time to adjust to land school before adding on more work.

It was interesting, a bit fun in some classes. Portuguese was fun, even if I struggled to pronounce some words right, I hate the word homem with a burning passion it took me forever to pronounce it right.

Kai is great at helping with that, his pronunciation is perfect every time.

Zoey had taken to braiding my hair in class while we did the beginners exercises, she found it fun. Kai always twitched when she did though which was strange.

I thought it was relaxing, and between that, Kai’s helpful explanations, and Nikola’s constant sarcastic quips, the class was a lot of fun.

PE continued to be miserable though, it was only one week but I still hadn’t adjusted to land right, at least not when running.

I could do the push-ups, and pull ups, and all the exercises that didn’t require… moving my feet… but running? Jumping jacks? Lunges? Ugh.

Kai was equally hateful of them, and Acantha had started listing the reasons for why the class was utterly unnecessary.

Of course, everyone knew we sucked in that class right now, especially Matt (who I had the misfortune of sharing the class with) so they took great delight in pointing it out.

There’s only so many times one can fall on their face trying to run across a flat surface before they hate the ground.

I’m definitely gonna need to get better on land though, I _live_ on land, I can’t be so bad at moving around!

It’s horribly embarrassing.

Band was enjoyable though, which was great because I love playing the ocarina.

Right now, we’re all being placed in terms of experience and the songs we know. Some of the kids were actually amazing, a good amount were mediocre, and like half were straight up beginners.

I was put with the mediocre group and given some songs to learn together while she tried to get the beginners up to par.

Africa by Toto was a fun tune, but it was hard to translate to ocarina without sheet notes. Ms. Bell (the director) said that she was trying to find good music for me.

Math was boring, and English a struggle, Science was mostly going over the basics.

It was a chemistry class, so we were covering the periodic table and stuff.

It would be boring except Matt kept trying to start stuff. Klara does not like him at all, which is fair cause he keeps saying stuff to her that’s… less than nice. And he keeps trying to yank my hair! Just cause it’s loose does not mean he can just yank it.

Anyways, I’m very glad that the first week is done. Me and Tyson are going to hang out this weekend!

How does one tell their friend that they know the friend is a Cyclops without scaring the already nervous friend?

Is it really necessary?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of his school? His classmates? What did you think of his impromptu lesson with Kymopoleia?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran~~  
> Havu=thank you  
> Metu=Dad  
> Metua=Father  
> Metuno=Father's  
> ivuisav=runes  
> omteot=will/intent/wish/power (a vague term describing this vague type of magical control)


	9. History in the Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys wanna learn a bunch about Greek myths? Or Hellenistic worship? Well boy is this the chapter for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to minha querida for helping me with the Portuguese this chapter, and supporting my heavy projection.
> 
> You're amazing Izzy <3
> 
> Also, since I had some questions.
> 
> I try to use actual locations in Manhattan (and around the country), either exactly or as inspiration (Percy's school look was taken from a school in Manhattan). 
> 
> Big Gay Ice Cream is indeed an actual shop that was open in Manhattan in 2012 and is owned by a gay couple. They were in the top ranked ice cream shops even then! Mermaid ice cream is also an actual flavor of theirs, though I was unable to find a menu from 2012 it is one of the current menu.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/fbR7XQdTTF

I yelped as I jumped off the skateboard, wincing when it crashed into the wall… again.

“Are you okay, Percy?” Tyson cried as he hurried over.

I huffed, glaring at the skateboard. This is hard.

“I’m fine, just can’t get the stupid skateboard to work.”

“That is a rude skateboard,” Tyson agreed.

“Let’s try over there,” I said, pointing closer to the river. “Maybe that’ll be a better spot.”

“The river is closer there,” he said as we walked over.

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it fun.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

“Are you okay, Percy?” Tyson asked as he helped me out of the river.

I glowered at the skateboard, how do you turn the stupid thing?

“I’m okay,” I grumbled.

“You are dry now,” Tyson said helpfully.

I relaxed, “Yeah, at least I’m dry.”

Being a son of Poseidon is definitely helpful there.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

After a dozen more crashes into buildings, letting Tyson practice on it (and also crash into things, at least it’s not just me), nearly flying over a guardrail, and running into three people, me and Tyson decided to take a break.

At least I learned how to turn it now.

We sat in Washington Square Park and relaxed, eating icies we bought from the vendor.

“Well at least we didn’t fall into anymore rivers,” I said.

Tyson nodded, sucking on his icie. “Yes, it was fun.”

He peered at me shyly, “Thank you for being my friend.”

I grinned, “Of course, thanks for being mine!”

Tyson studied the ground, my legs swinging on the bench.

“I will try and learn to skateboard, like you, so that we can skateboard together.”

I laughed, “I’m not a good skateboarder, but that sounds like fun. Maybe we can go to a skate park sometime.”

Tyson brightened, “I would like that.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Mom and I spent awhile learning new veiling techniques, it was nice to spend time together.

She helped me tie my hair up, and tuck the veils tails up so that they didn’t hang. And I showed her this really complicated veiling style that Annabeth showed me. It takes two veils and looks like a braid hanging over your shoulder when you’re done.

It took a lot of tries to get right but it looked really pretty on mom.

I really liked the veil Drew got me, it was really nice and really fit me. But Silena also got me a veil, one I’ve seen the other Aphrodite kids wear.

It was white with elegant twisty gold patterns. The more I studied them the more I found hidden in them, hearts and doves and other patterns.

Drew said that it was a cabin tradition, everyone in the cabin had one. She’s not sure when the tradition started, but it was before Silena.

I love it, Silena is calling me family by giving it to me.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I bounced beside mom, holding the box of cookies we just made.

The family alter sat in the living room, by the entrance to the hallway where there was a spot for the breakfast table. We had to move the couch over a little, to make sure there was room to walk, but the long lower table was set up as a proper altar.

Along the back and curving down the sides like an arch were the statues of the Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hermes, Hades on the left and Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Hestia down the right.

In front of each of them was a small candle, colored based on their associated colors. In the back corners were bundles of silk flowers (the fake kind). In the center was a pretty blue round offering dish. It has gold patterns on the edge.

On the right of the offering dish was a cauldron, black metal with a flame pattern hammered onto the side. Inside of it was the flame for Hestia, since we don’t have a fire place this is our hearth flame.

In the bottom right corner is the khernips bowl, for making sacred water to cleanse ourselves of miasma (I didn’t know about that part, but mom has been doing a lot of research). Miasma is also why people veil! Well, most people.

Since I’m a magic user, and I wanna learn healing, I veil both to protect myself from outside influences (though my necklace from Tethys does that too) and to keep miasma off so it doesn’t interfere with healing. Mom would do it because women are more susceptible to miasma, so the veils help keep it away.

In the bottom left corner of the shrine is the libation bowl and the cup.

Mom and I read through the stuff on libations together, on top of what I learned at camp with Annabeth.

You do libations with wine or other drinks or honey. You pour it out of the cup into the bowl, and then later would pour from the bowl onto the Earth or into a fire (if you can) .

We don’t drink wine often, so the libations that go with wine wouldn’t be done as often, but mom said we’d do a milk one in the mornings.

We just finished setting up the family altar, so we’re doing an offering now!

Mom finished lighting the candles (there’s so many, but they’re small ones) and I hopped forward to lay seven cookies on the offering plate, the tails of my veil swinging as I did.

We made a bunch of different colored cookies this time, red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple and pink.

Mom poured the first libation, and I carefully said the prayer we’d come up with.

“Thank you for our good fortune in these difficult times, and for our new home from which we may honor you,” I licked my lips before continuing. “We ask for your blessings, Zeus Agathos Deos, Hera Hyperchei’ria, so that our home may be guarded and be a place of safety and sanctuary. We ask for your blessings, Hestia Potheinotáti, that our home may be warm with a strong hearth. We ask for your blessings, Demeter Sitô, that our home may have food and our pantries filled. We pray to you, in thanks and in love, that you may accept our offerings and that our home may be yours.”

I managed to only stumble over the epithets of the Gods a little, perfect.

Zeus the Good God, of the home, Hera the one who holds her protecting hand over the thing, Hestia the beloved, and Demeter the provider of food.

Mom and I spent forever doing research, but it was interesting. The Gods have so many titles!

Mom beamed at me as she laid out a mug of tea in front of Hestia’s hearth, then murmured a thank you.

Then we went to have dinner!

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I hummed as I picked up the things on the floor in my room. The top drawer had the assorted veils that I bought and was gifted, the makeup kit from Drew, the nail polish from Silena and Lacy, the veil pins (that you use to keep the veil in place) from Jasmine and Calisto, the soft blue scarf from Marinette, and the various jewelry from the undersea and the cool chained hoop earrings from… Alexus? I think… Plus my assorted armor.

The fancy mirror from Willow was on top of the dresser, the white metal around the mirror twisted in cool patterns and the detangling hairbrush from… uh… I can’t remember… anyways, the hairbrush was next to the mirror. I also had the perfume and hair oils from Aarya, Emily, and Lapis sitting at the back of the dresser (which I remember thanks to the little notes tied around them with their names on them).

On the left corner of the dresser stood Carl’s tank, he’s still not that happy with me because of the spa incident, but at least he’s talking to me again.

“You missed the hair pins on the desk,” Carl called.

I blinked, turning to check my desk and indeed the hair pins were there.

“Thanks,” I called as I hurried over to grab them to add to my top drawer. They’re from Sung and have sea shells on the ends of them.

I grabbed the camp photo album that Silena had added to her gifts (it was open on my desk) and put it on the bookshelf next to the guide to doing your hair that Valentina gave me. I’m pretty sure she wrote it!

Giovanni didn’t send me any gifts, he just sent me a note telling me to Iris Message him next Saturday at noon.

I’m not sure what’s up with that.

I shrugged, checking that everything was picked up. My tutor is coming tomorrow, and I need my room to be perfectly neat. I need to make a good first impression.

“How’s it look, Carl?”

“You should put that book on plants on the shelf too, instead of on your desk.”

I blinked, noticing it, and scooped it up, slipping it onto the bookshelf as well. It was from Miranda, a comprehensive guide on American Flora. The Demeter cabin apparently found out about my birthday too, and sent stuff along with the Aphrodite cabin.

My mom and me liked the teas from Suki, and the fairy foxglove that had really pretty little flowers. And we now have small boxes, Katie sent them. We’ve filled them with the succulents from Darius (aloe and opuntia) and the medicinal plants from Lapu (gingko and echinacea). The garden tools Imani sent me were a great help since my mom didn’t have any.

I studied the room, trying to see if there was anything else out of place.

My medical kit was tucked under my bed, weapons either under my pillow or on my wrist (thank you magic trident). Riptide was in my desk drawer and my sharp hair comb in my dresser.

Okay, everything looks neat.

My glass sea serpent peered up at me from where it was wrapped around the wave statue I got for my birthday in the sea.

“Hey, Ran,” I murmured. “You comfy?”

They cooed, the glass shining as they curled tighter.

I laughed and turned to check the other occupant of my room. Hippolyta was arranging the shiny stones in her tank in a nest like situation.

“How’s your nest coming, Lyta?”

I got the impression of comfort and safety, a flash of a completed nest shining a thousand different colors.

“Sounds good,” I said. “Let me know if I can get you anything to help it.”

I blinked at the sudden image of me in the tank.

“Lyta,” I laughed. “I can’t sit in the tank, it’s not like the sea.”

Lyta was not pleased with this info.

“I can practice moving water with you in it?” I offered. “So you don’t risk drying out.”

The grudging agreement made me smile, “Awesome. Finish up your nest first.”

“Percy,” Mom called. “Dinner’s ready.”

“I’ll be back in a bit,” I promised my friends as I hurried out.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Zoey hummed as she went over the words today. “Okay, so how do you say “stove” in Portuguese?”

“Fo-gao,” I said.

“Fu-gão,” Kai corrected.

“Fo-gon?”

“Fu-gão.”

“Fo-gou?”

“Fu-gão,” Kai insisted, speaking slower so I could hear it more clearly.

“Fu-“ I said slowly.

Kai nodded.

“-gao,” I finished.

He dropped his head.

Zoey giggled as she watched us.

“Say it softer,” Nikola offered with a yawn. “Like, it’s not an a, it’s a… under-a.”

“That’s not a thing,” Zoey laughed.

“Well you say it,” Nikola grumbled.

“Fu-gao!”

“No.”

Her face fell.

It was another like thirty tries before we managed to get fogão right. I was mumbling it under my breath for the rest of class while we did our written translations.

Kai is amazing in this class, it’s really impressive. And Nikola is effortlessly good, and half asleep most of the class.

Zoey and me shared solidarity in sucking at pronunciation, but Zoey was good at the written translations while I struggled there.

Oh well, at least I was good at word meanings.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I rocked on my heels, tugging at my bracelet as I peered at my tutor.

Euphemia was a black-haired, dark-skinned woman, or well, mer in human form. She looked to be in her twenties but looks can be deceiving with mer who often age slower or stop aging physically at certain ages.

She had a tank top on, with arm bands denoting her status as a teacher and master historian.

“Maie em maiv houp opu, Euphemia-fu’oro,” I said, twisting my hand clockwise with the three middle fingers up.

She responded by rotating her hand so that the palm faced the ground, the ring and pinky fingers pointed down and the middle and pointer fingers pointed out.

“Y opu ro ika omasa, Percy-aia,” she said firmly. “Shall we begin?”

I nodded, glancing at my mom who watched the greeting.

“You can work in Percy’s room if you’d like, Ms. Euphemia,” she said. “If that doesn’t work I can clean out the office for the tutoring sessions.”

Euphemia nodded, “That is appreciated, Sally-nio. We will use Perseus-aiano room for now.”

Mom nodded, looking curious at the suffix.

I did not remember to inform her of it.

Oops.

I led Euphemia to my room, sitting at the desk nervously.

Ran slipped over, curling around my wrist as Euphemia paused at the door.

“Oh, you can come in,” I said.

She smoothly entered, gazing around curiously. Her gaze lingered on my altars (candles burning low since I’ve had them lit since I got home from school) before shifting to Lyta’s tank.

“This will do.”

She unhooked the pouch at her side and sat in the second chair I brought in for the tutoring lesson.

“As you know, I am Euphemia, and I will be your tutor in all matters of the sea while you are on land.”

I nodded, “Thank you for tutoring me.”

She hummed, “The ones I spoke to spoke highly of you, even Okeanus. I saw no reason to refuse Poseidon-oreno request.”

I flushed, I didn’t realize Okeanus thought so highly of me. I’ll have to thank Him if I see Him again sometime.

“Now then,” Euphemia pulled out a few objects from her bag. “Today we will start with the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

She nodded, “The beginning of all, the beginning of the sea, and what led to today’s ruler, Poseidon-ore. What do you know of it?”

I chewed my lip, “Well, Khaos was the beginning, and from Khaos came Gaea, Nyx, and the others. Pontus came from Gaea… I don’t know much more, I didn’t really study the beginning.”

She nodded, “Most do not. But we need to know the beginning to understand what came after.”

She settled in her seat, holding an aipone and ofivi in her hands.

“In the beginning, there was nothing but Khaos. But then Khaos gathered the Darkness that existed in the Void and shaped it, giving form to Nyx, She who is the Night. Nyx and Khaos worked together to gather the Shadows that existed alongside the Darkness, and They formed Erebus, Shadows that followed all and holds all secrets, and holds the Underworld.”

She sketched out Their names as she spoke, writing what They ruled beneath the names.

I scrambled for a notebook, beginning to write as she spoke.

“Erebus then took Nyx as His wife, the two giving birth to Aether and Hemera. Hemera is Day, as Nyx is Night and Aether is Light as Erebus is Shadows. Khaos then brought forth another from the void, shaping Gaea from the Shadow and Darkness, and also from the Light and Day, giving form to Earth. Gaea is Earth as the others are Them.”

She drew a small Earth. And I scribbled out little doodles to match the realms.

“Now, at this time Khaos saw that the Shadows held the Underworld, which existed beneath the Earth, and beneath that was an empty space. Khaos gathered the Shadows once more, reaching for Light and Earth as well and gave form to Tartaros, He who acts as the Shield between Earth and Khaos and is the Eternal Prison who guards and watches over those within His realm and rules over those who reject Passivity.”

She drew a chart showing the different Deities and Their realms in comparison to each other.

I copied it as best as I could.

“The Earth, Gaea, was empty though, and thus She brought forth three children, with no other parent. There was first Uranus, who is the sky. With Him came the clouds and the wind.

I drew a star next to His name, He’s important.

“Then came Ourea, the Mountains. They brought new levels to Gaea, and there is not simply one, though They may be portrayed as one. There are ten Ourea, the first mountains. Tmolus is the King Oread and the one that is most commonly seen in a… form mortals can comprehend.”

I nodded as she sketched mountains onto the Earth, making a note of the Ourea and Their ruler Tmolus while she did so.

“Finally, Pontus was formed, He who is the Sea. With Him came the waters of the Earth. He is the most important of the primordials.”

I drew a big circle around His name. It’s obvious He’s the most important, He’s the Ocean after all.

“Khaos then saw the Love that Gaea had for Her children, and gathered it together, along with the Shadows that reveal all secrets, and thus Eros was formed, the last of Khaos’ children. He is Romantic Love and Physical Desire.”

She flipped the board and wrote Pontus at the top while I tried not to flush remembering the Eros I met. He’s a primordial!?

“Pontus and Gaea were struck by Eros who saw their desires, and together they had five children: Nereus, the old man of the sea, Thaumas, the wonder of the sea, Phorcys, father of sea monsters, Keto, the dangers of the sea, and Eurybia, the mastery of the sea.”

I blinked when a chart appeared in front of me showing the family tree.

Oh, thank goodness, I was scrambling to write it all down.

“Gaea turned from Pontus, who remained in the waters that cradle the Earth, and turned to Uranus.”

I nodded, “And they had the Titans.”

She smiled, “Yes, but before we cover the Titan’s, there is another that must be mentioned.”

She wrote down Hemera and Aether.

“These two married, and together they had Thalassa, the Seas. Where Pontus is all the Ocean, Thalassa composed the many Seas.”

“Oh, right.”

I made a note of that.

“Now then, Thalassa was close with Pontus, the two working together in handling the waters of the world. They were also close with Uranus, who drew the waters up and rained it down once more, both emptying and filling the Ocean.”

“They were close… Pontus was upset when Uranus was… defeated.”

She nodded solemnly, “He was. It is a common problem for those of the Sea to cling to those they are loyal to, and Pontus is no different.”

I frowned, how could it be a problem to protect those you care for?

“The Ocean encircles all, and takes all into it’s waters, and yet Pontus could not save Uranus. Not from Himself, and not from His children.”

“Himself?” I asked.

“Uranus was changing, though none could discover why. It started not with the birth of Okeanus, nor His naming ceremony, nor Tethys’, but with Hyperion’s. With His naming ceremony Uranus began to shift, and only grew worse through time.”

I frowned. What happened?

“Uranus did not desire more children, but Gaea did. Uranus was unwilling to split from Her, for He loved Her dearly, but He did not love the children. It is written as odd, in the records we hold, as Uranus had been eager for more children, such as what Pontus had. He had loved Okeanus and Tethys and cared for Them as Their father.”

I frowned, that’s really weird.

“With the naming ceremony of Hyperion, Uranus began to shift. He was less and less kind to His children, less Himself. He began to torment Them, as each on was born. Sending storms down when They did the slightest thing to displease Him, hounding Them when They stood on Gaea’s land until They hid within Her.”

I listened wide eyed, watching as she sketched out the images.

“Gaea sought to improve things. He had once been excited for children, She hoped that more children may aid in this, bring Him back to Himself. She slept with Him once more, entreating Eros to aid Them in having children.”

I don’t think it worked, I vaguely remember that myth. The Cyclopes did not help at all.

“They had three children next, the elder Cyclopes. They were named Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. But they were ugly, and not lovely as the Titan’s were. Uranus, who was already hateful of His lovely children, was disgusted by these and took hold of them, banishing them to Tartarus, He who holds all prisoners.”

“That’s terrible,” I whispered.

She gave a grim smile, “From there Gaea desperately attempted just one last time. Eros once again aided Her but warned Her that the results may not be better. Uranus held a Shadow over His heart and He could not longer Love as He had. Gaea attempted anyways and gave birth to three more children, the Hekatoncheries. They were named Cottus, Briareos, and Gyges.”

I blinked, how do you spell Hekatoncheries? He-ka-to-care-ees?

“Uranus was equally disgusted by these children, if not more so. They held fifty heads and one-hundred arms, making them grotesque and a shame to Uranus. He once again grabbed hold of Her children and banished them to Tartarus.”

I swallowed, that’s not good.

“Gaea considered this the last straw and She ceased attempting to gain Uranus’ love once more. Now She plotted revenge.”

“That’s when She got Kronos to help Her?”

“The Story as Okeanus spoke it is that She came to Them one day, one of the rare days They were on land as Uranus worked elsewhere. She ordered Them to aid Her, to free Her children and destroy Her husband. Okeanus remembered a time before though, when Uranus was a father and He cared for Them. Okeanus was also aware that should They fail, Uranus’ wrath would be unmatched. Kronos stepped forward though, when Their mother’s wrath was threatened upon Them and defended His brothers.”

I blinked, “The camp calls Him evil.”

“Many would believe that, and yet… the full story is not yet revealed.”

“So what happened? I mean, after Kronos sent Okeanus aware to protect Him and took the scythe.”

She eyed me, “That is what happened next. Okeanus does not know the specifics, not beyond what He has been told. But what we do know is that the other brothers: Hyperion, Koios, Krios, and Iapetus held Uranus down and Kronos castrated Him. He then chopped Uranus into small pieces and scattered those pieces in the Ocean.”

I swallowed, “Right, and then Aphrodite was born from the sea foam mixing with His pieces where He was tossed to the Ocean.”

“Indeed, Aphrodite is a child of the Ocean and the Sky. And from Gaea and Uranus came more children. There were the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, and the Meliads, the Nymphs of the Ash Trees. Some will also say the Gigantes came from this, yet we are aware that they came from Tartarus and Gaea. After this time, all was well. Gaea rested, recovering from Her time before and allowing Her children to rule. The Titan’s freed the Cyclops and Hekatoncheries.”

“But then Kronos ate His kids,” I said. "And weren't they locked back up?"

“He did lock them up once more, and even ate His children, but not before the land prospered. Kronos took Rhea as His wife, They loved each other dearly. Indeed, Kronos was said to be delighted by His upcoming children as He ensured the land was healthy and the people happy.”

“Then why did He eat His kids?”

“No one knows. He doted on Hestia when She was born, delighted by His first child, His daughter, but then on the day of Her naming ceremony, seven days after Her birth, He changed.”

I frowned, “But why?”

“We don’t know, we only know that He suddenly took His child and devoured Her whole.”

That doesn’t make any sense? Something had to have happened.

“And of course, the story after is well known.”

“Yeah… why was this our first lesson?”

“To know what comes after you must know the beginning. The beginning leads all things, and nothing would have happened without it.”

I nodded reluctantly, wondering what it all meant. Wait…

“What happened to Pontus?”

She smiled, “He slipped away, falling into a deep sleep. None are certain of why, but He is asleep and likely will be until Uranus returns.”

“Why don’t the land myths speak of it like this? I’ve read some of Metani being a good king before His kids but…”

“You must always remember, Perseus-aia, history is written by the victors. It matters little what good you do in life, if you end it with evil. History obliterates every picture it paints, and it paints you in all your mistakes. Kronos was a good king, but few remember that in light of what He did. Look to your myths and learn, not everything is as it seems.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I yelped as the dodgeball almost hit me in the side.

Apparently the first week was a fluke, because our teacher has just assigned us dodgeball and told us to make teams.

The teams did not go well.

I winced as Kai tripped right in front of the dodgeball flying at him and got nailed in the face.

Ouch.

I groaned as I was promptly slammed in the stomach by a dodgeball, wincing as I picked myself up from the ground.

This game is not fun.

It doesn’t help that I’m still distracted by Euphemia’s lesson. Next time we’ll be going over Okeanus and Tethys and how the two of Them are unable to have anymore children as Their love causes tsunamis and stuff.

Wild stuff.

But our first lesson… I’m still not sure what to think about it.

It reminded me of what I saw, what Metani showed me in that dream… where Lara-

I took a breath, stumbling slightly when my foot caught on the ground.

I want to learn more, but I’m not sure how. Maybe Euphemia will teach me more about it? But does she know it all… She must’ve had a very smart teacher.

“Hey, Jackson. Have you figured out how to walk without falling on your face yet? Or do you need some help?”

I ignored them and sunk down against the wall. I don’t have the energy to deal with them today.

I winced when Acantha not only tripped over her own feet, but also knocked down two classmates and punched another in the face with her flailing. Tyson moved to help her up.

“The only one’s worse than you in here,” muttered on of the boys. “Is her.”

I sighed as she got hit in the back of the head with a dodgeball. That’s gonna hurt.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I grinned when the shell flicked high, arcing slowly as it slipped back down.

“Nice one,” Samoa cheered.

I grinned, “Thanks.”

We were playing shell toss while we waited for Masina and Rosa to arrive. Elei was at camp right now and couldn’t come.

“So, how have your studies on healing been going?” Lagi asked.

I hid a wince at that, I haven’t even opened the books, they’re intimidating.

“I’ve been distracted adjusting back to land school,” I offered. “But I’ll be starting on them next week.”

“Oh, that’s good, I’ve spoken to my teacher and they said that when you finish those books you can join in on a lesson. He also recommended finding ones like them for humans and land animals, since they’re different.”

I nodded solemnly while making a note to check out the books at some point in the next week… probably.

Why does healing require so much anatomy and memorization?

“How is human school?” Fetu asked, thankfully changing the subject.

“It’s nice, I’ve got some fun classmates.”

“What subjects do you learn?” Samoa asked curiously.

“We have seven classes, PE- er… physical education. Then Algebra two-“

“What’s Algebra two?” Lagi questioned as he flicked his shell, sending it arcing into Samoa’s hair.

“Hey!”

“It’s a name for a type of math. And then we have History, um, World History this year, we’re talking about Rome right now.”

“Rome was boring and rude,” Fetu muttered. “I heard mevu talking to metu about it one time.”

“They didn’t like the sea very much,” I agreed. “But at least it’s better than English, we’re on ‘Language Arts’ and it’s a lot of writing and reading.”

“The English language is dumb,” Lagi said firmly.

“We’re speaking it right now?” I said baffled.

Fetu laughed, “Well yes, but that’s just cause it’s the local language. We were raised to learn it along with Halmaheran, Portuguese. Halmaheran makes so much more sense, so does Portuguese.”

I stared at him wide eyed, “You speak Portuguese? Please help I’m taking it in school.”

He brightened, “Oh it’s easy, eu ia ser feliz te ajudar.”

I blinked, and slowly ran that through my head, “Uh… eu is I… feliz is happy… te is you…”

“I would be happy to help you,” Fetu said with a fond smile.

“Oh! Thanks!”

“Anytime, minha pérola.”

“Minha is my?”

“It means my pearl,” Lagi said with a sly smile.

“Oh, that’s fun! I could give you a nickname in Greek!”

Samoa nearly fell over giggling while Lagi groaned.

Fetu’s lips twitched, “I would be honored.”

I studied him, his nickname was super sweet I need a good one too…

I tried to think, but was distracted by the sparkles of his tails, they always looks like shining stars with the hair and tails, shining in the dark of the ocean…

Oh!

“Asteri mou,” I said proudly. “It fits you perfectly.”

Fetu blushed, his light blue skin darkening.

Lagi burst into giggles, “Oh yes, it’s perfect, I love it.”

Samoa was beaming, “That’s so cute! 'Your star', that’s the sweetest. I wish I had someone giving me nicknames like that.”

I blinked at them, “Did you want a nickname?”

Lagi shot her a look, and she shook her head.

“No, Percy, but that’s very sweet of you.”

I shrugged, they’re all so strange sometimes, but they’re great friends.

“You guys are already having fun,” a voice said.

“They don’t love us anymore,” Rosa said dramatically, draping xer hand over her head.

Masina laughed, their eyes gleaming.

“You guys made it!” I said happily.

“What’s got Fetu all blue?” Masina asked curiously.

Lagi grinned, “Percy called him asteri mou.”

“You guys are adorable,” Rosa said with a laugh.

“We’re good friends!” I said cheerfully.

Samoa giggled.

“Well, good friends,” Masina said cheerfully. “Shall we head off to the tahuhu pye?”

“Yeah!” I grinned as I swam over. “I can’t wait to see the magic displays!”

“Let’s get going then, we don’t want to be late.”

“We were waiting for you,” Samoa pointed out softly, slipping up next to me.

“And now we’re waiting for Fetu to cool off,” Rosa drawled as xey grabbed my hand.

“Hush you,” Fetu grumbled.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

“Is that an altar?” Zoey asked, staring at the family altar from where should stood in the living room.

I faltered in gathering the cookies, “Uh… yeah…”

Zoey turned to me with wide eyes while Tyson stood awkwardly behind us.

“Are you pagan?”

I bit my lip, “I am.”

She was practically vibrating, “What Pantheon do you worship? Or do you worship multiple? Oms is your mom pagan? Do you have any specific Gods you worship? Are you also a witch? Do you give offerings to Them?”

I blinked, “Oh uh, I worship the Greek Gods-“

“Me too!” She cheered. “That’s amazing, I’ve never met another Hellenistic Pagan! I worship Apollo primarily, and Hypnos cause insomnia hits hard sometimes and He helps a lot. What about you?”

I rocked on my heels, grinning a little, “I worship Triton and Artemis and Selene the most, and Dionysus. Plus of course, Hestia.”

“Oh, Dionysus is cool! I’ve been thinking about reaching out to Him too. I’ve never heard of worshipping Triton, is He nice?”

I beamed, “Triton is the best! I talk with him all the time.”

“That’s amazing, stars I’m so excited right now.”

I was bouncing, I knew, sorta, that mortals still worshipped the Gods, but it’s another thing to _meet_ one.

“Yeah! It’s really cool.”

“Oh,” she turned to Tyson suddenly nervous. “Sorry, I know you’re probably not pagan-“

I bit back a laugh, should I tell her he’s a Cyclops?

“I know the Gods,” Tyson said with a nod. “They are strong.”

She brightened, “Wait, you’re a pagan too? There’s two others at school? That’s so cool! Imagine if Kai and Nikola were pagans too.”

I laughed, what are they chances they believe in the Gods too? Many mortals don’t anymore.

“Anyways, we should probably start studying,” I held up the cookies. “We can chat while we study?”

She beamed, “That sounds brilliant!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of his first lesson? How about his time with Tyson? His friends? Anything you're interested in seeing while he's on land?
> 
> Also! I know the Portuguese used was informal/not "proper". It's okay! That's just how the sea speaks it. It's a more informal version, like hick Portuguese. My girlfriend is helping me with it, she's a native speaker. It's okay, but thank you for the suggestions.
> 
> ~~Halmaheran~~  
> Maie em maiv houp opu=It’s nice to meet you  
> Y opu ro ika omasa=And you in return  
> aipone=thin stone tablet that functions similarly to a whiteboard  
> ofivi=coral pen that works similarly to a dry erase marker  
> Metani=Grandfather  
> Mevu=Mom  
> Metu=Dad  
> tahuhu pye=Magical showcase (direct translation=magic tide)
> 
> ~~Suffixes~~  
> fu'oro=master teacher  
> aia=prince  
> nio=one who was with Poseidon  
> aiano=Prince's  
> oreno=King's  
> ore=King
> 
> ~~OC's~~  
> Jasmine=has the celestial bronze nails  
> Calisto=non-bi, makes cookies  
> Aarya=uses the cool sticks to fight  
> Emily=very knowledgeable about makeup  
> Marinette=likes to sew  
> Lapis=good at hair, doesn't like to fight  
> Giovanni=fancy suit boy, grenades  
> Suki=has Rheumatoid Arthritis, uses a cane, wanted to test if Percy is fire proof  
> Lapu=stopped them from trying to set Percy on fire, wears two braids  
> Imani=sweetie, can control gardening tools  
> Darius=good with thorny plants  
> Euphemia=Percy's Tutor  
> Kai=one of Percy's guards  
> Acantha=one of Percy's guards
> 
> ~~Mortals~~  
> Zoey=Mortal friend, pagan


	10. To Celebrate the Future's You Learn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hey I'm back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Slurs used by a character
> 
> Well I'm late lol, by a lot. School has started up again and physics is hard, plus learning two langauges, and taking two big writing classes, and of course the history class. It's a mess lol. 
> 
> But I'm back, and things are more settled so I should be good for writing once more! Honestly the last few chapters and this one, and the next few, were all meant to be two chapters. This chapter is over 7k. There's a reason I split it up lmao.
> 
> Also, askldnla you guys do know I'm fine with you dming me about stuff as long as you're not insulting right? Like I'll tell you politely if something upsets me. You're totally fine going to my girlfriend (IzzyMRDB) but like, I won't bite your head off aldksn.
> 
> I love chatting with people about the books or life or stories and stuff. I promise you're not bothering me aslkdna.
> 
> Also thank you to the commenters trying to help with my Portuguese or talking about it with me, I love hearing from those who are native speakers. My girlfriend is a huge help with my speaking and is the only reason I'm not horrifically butchering pronunciation <3.
> 
> Hope you enjoy :D
> 
> WARNING: There are slurs used in this chapter by an asshole character
> 
> Come yell at me on Tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on Discord: https://discord.gg/HKQGqtm

I let out a slow breath as Serafina instructed. She stood beside me as I did the breathing exercises.

“Alright,” she murmured. “Let’s try singing now.”

I nodded, she had me pick an easy familiar land tune for now, said we’ll do sea ones later. The ocean is more used to responding to sea tunes, so it will jump on that quicker. Using unfamiliar tunes was a good way to start off, but they should be familiar to the singer.

“Remember to make your intent clear, you just want the coral to grow.”

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky, twinkle twinkle- little star, how I… how I wonder what you are-“

I gulped, struggling for air but delighted as the coral visibly stretched up, reacting to my song.

“When the blazing sun is- is gone, when he nothing-“ I took a deep breath, “when he nothing shines upon-“ I struggled to breathe more, trying to draw in more water and oxygen. “Then you- then you show your… your little light…”

“Enough.”

I blinked, “But- But I wasn’t…. I wasn’t even through,” I coughed, struggling to speak right. “The second verse…”

“And yet you are struggling so.”

She flicked over, holding a twisted piece of coral.

“Breathe in through this,” she said as she placed the opening on the coral piece at my mouth.

I took it and did as she said, pulling it away to cough, before I managed to breathe in.

The water tastes different. Like… plants?

“It’s a hotivim, helps with the breathing issues caused by the Siren’s Song, or lung problems. The treatment is similar. Breathe in four times with it then rest for a little bit. We’ll go through how to control the power in your voice now that I’ve heard you.”

I nodded, breathing in slowly, then breaking down into a coughing fit.

She rubbed my back and drifted beside me while I recovered.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I sat down and turned to Tyson who was getting out his lunch.

As usual he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I’ve never seen him with anything else honestly.

“Do you want some chips,” I asked. “I have two bags today.”

Tyson perked up, “Chips?”

“Uh yeah,” I dug out my lunch. “Doritos and Frittos.”

“Doritos?” Tyson asked wide eyed.

“What are Doritos?” Kai asked.

Zoey gaped, “You- you don’t know what Doritos are!?”

Nikola set his lunch tray next to Acantha, “Doritos are a type of chip, which is a snack. The kind Percy has are nacho cheese Doritos, they’re cheesy.”

Kai had a notebook out, “Can I try one?”

“Yes,” Tyson said. “Here.”

Acantha leaned over, “I want one!”

“Are you guys leaving me out?” Klara demanded. “I want to try one.”

I watched baffled, how have they never had Doritos?

“Percy,” Zoey hissed. “They’ve never had Doritos. Are there other things they’ve never had?”

“We need to show them around,” Percy declared. “And show them all the foods.”

“Do you guys know what Gucci is?” Zoey asked.

Kai looked up from notebook he was scribbling in with a Dorito in his mouth.

Acantha flicked her hands in a question gesture I know from Triton teaching me.

“They’re a designer clothes and bag brand,” I said.

“Was that sign language?” Zoey asked with sparkling eyes.

Acantha faltered, “Oh uh, yeah… it was.”

“Yeah, it was basically saying ‘no what is it’… roughly,” I explained.

“You know sign language?” Zoey asked eagerly.

“Er,” I faltered. “Only a little… and it’s not American Sign Language, there are differences.”

I paused suddenly, wait… how did Acantha know the sign language of Atlantis?

“Yeah, this one is…” Acantha faltered. “It’s the Portuguese sign language.”

“Oh, are you from Portugal?” Zoey asked.

“No.”

Zoey blinked.

I hummed, is there an overlap in the sign languages? I’ll ask Triton later.

“Can you show me a sign?” Zoey asked eagerly.

I faltered, well, “This is hello-“ I tapped by forehead with my palm flat and held facing the ground, then flicked it away. “This is goodbye-“ I held my hand out and folded my fingers down.

“Ooh, what’s your name in sign?”

“That varies,” Klara said. “Like, not to person, but like, as a sign. They’re customized? Or you can finger spell but that’s the long way.”

“Oh? How would you finger spell ‘Percy’?”

Klara held out her left hand and signed, her fingers flicking slowly through ‘P’ ‘E’ ‘R’ ‘C’ ‘Y’.

“What are you doing?” sneered a voice behind me. “Trying to do a Jutsu? Weeb.”

I turned in confusion, “What’s a jutsu?”

“Is that a type of sign language?” Kai asked, holding his notebook up.

“Looks like you’re the real weeb,” Nikola mused.

Matt flushed at that, glaring at us, gaze focusing on me.

“Look here you retarded faggots," he snarled. "You think you're so smart? Why don't you meet me out back after school and we'll see how smart you are then you blue haired freak.”

Kai went still, Acantha stiffened.

Klara tilted her head, “Okay. I’ll meet you out back after school.”

She smiled sweetly, and Matt did a double take.

Nikola yawned, “Slurs aren’t attractive.”

“No one asked you,” Matt snapped. “So why don’t you-“

“What’s going on here?” Asked Mrs. Jefferson, coming over.

“Nothing,” Matt said. “Just saying hi.”

She studied us closely. Zoey looked about ready to jump Matt, Acantha was glaring daggers, Kai was gripping his notepad and pen like they were weapons, Tyson had shrunk down, and Nikola looked ready to nap but his eyes were like ice.

“Well,” she said slowly. “Why don’t you move along.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Matt turned to leave, shooting us one last glare as he walked away.

“He’s a complete-“ Zoey snarled. “Such a-“

“He’s a vlua petulu,” I agreed fiercely. “Are you okay Tyson?”

Tyson nodded, “Yes. I am fine. He was… not scary. Percy could beat him.”

I flushed, “Ah, thanks.”

“Let’s finish lunch,” Nikola said. “I want a nap.”

I nodded, “Sounds good, oh yeah, Zoey?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you doing anything for the Autumn Equinox?”

She brightened, “Oh we’re going to an Apple grove and helping gather apples! It’s going to be so fun!”

“Ooh, that does sound fun.”

“What about you?”

“I’m visiting my Metua’s place,” I said. “We’re going berry picking!”

“That’s sounds nice…” Zoey chirped. “What’s Metua?”

“Oh, it means Father, I’m going to my Father’s place.”

“Oh, yeah that makes sense.”

“Are you doing anything Tyson?” I asked.

Tyson shook his head, “I am going to sleep. I do not have berries to pick, or groves to go to.”

Zoey frowned, “Well, I think it’s too late to ask my parents to bring you along this year. But next year you can come with me!”

Tyson blinked, “Really?”

“Yep!” Zoey grinned. “It’ll be fun. We can save some apples for Percy too.”

Nikola hummed, “Sounds nice. We’re going hunting for the equinox. It’ll be funsies.”

“Ooh,” I grinned. “Some of the older people at Metua’s place go hunting I think, but you have to be a certain age to join in on that.”

“Will you guys be doing anything?” Zoey asked. “Oh wait, sorry… wait, Nikola are you pagan?”

“Yeah,” he yawned.

Zoey lit up, “Oh my stars this is brilliant! Wait, Kai, Kai are you pagan?”

Kai blinked, “Um, well, yes? Sort of. Pagan means worshiping non-Abrahamic Gods right?”

“Er… I think so?” Zoey asked. “I mean, I think that covers all of it.”

“Then yes, I am pagan.”

“So are we,” Acantha said. “Everyone where we come from is pagan.”

“That’s so cool,” Zoey whispered. “All of our group is pagan! We should do a festival together sometime!”

“What kind of pagan are you?” Nikola asked dryly. “I worship the Norse Gods.”

“Oh that’s cool,” Zoey said. “But I don’t think we can do a festival together then… Me and Percy and Tyson are Hellenistic Pagans, we worship the Greek Gods.”

“We…” Kai shared a look with the others. “Are also Hellenistic Pagans.”

“We can probably do something together anyways,” Nikola mused. “Just respectfully.”

Zoey nodded, “Yeah, that would be cool. Antheresteria is a great holiday for doing things with friends, honoring Dionysus and having a big meal with friends. Oh, and of course Dionysia. We could all go watch a play or even put one on!”

“We have some time to plan,” I pointed out. “Both of those aren’t for a while.”

“Yeah, I’m just so excited,” she said.

I grinned, it was exciting. Everyone here was a pagan, and even if only me and Tyson actually… saw Them in person, there were still others that knew Them, and worshiped Them. It was… nice.

“Well,” Nikola drawled. “This was informative, but class starts again soon, and I want a nap first. So see you later.”

“Bye,” Zoey chirped.

“Bye,” I called.

The other’s chimed in as Nikola walked away.

“This is going to be an amazing school year,” Zoey declared.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The Saturday to Iris message with Giovanni came quickly and at noon I Iris Messaged him.

“Ah, hello Percy,” Giovanni said. “Happy late birthday.”

It seemed to be later in the day where he was.

“Thanks,” I said with a grin. “What time is it there?”

“Oh, six pm,” he mused. “Now then, your birthday present. Clearly you haven’t had anyone with any… style around you before our cabin. This is of course, an absolute crime. Therefore, I will be arranging for you to have an entirely new wardrobe.”

I blinked, “Wha-“

He quirked an eyebrow, “You did not think we would let you wander around in t-shirts and jeans, forever did you? No, you are a part of our cabin and thus _must_ have a proper wardrobe.”

“But… I have clothes from the sea?”

“Yes,” he said patiently. “But you only wear them occasionally, and they’re very nice. You need some slightly more casual styled clothes, and of course more big event clothes. And better everything really, your wardrobe is limited.”

“I do?” I said baffled. “But… I have a uniform at school this year?”

He made a face, mumbling under his breath, “Disgustoso, le uniformi sono così poco lusinghiere.”

Shaking his head he continued louder, “That just makes it more important that you have good clothes when not in school! My personal tailor will be in America next week and will be arranging your wardrobe.”

“What-“

“He was already going for a fashion event, so I requested he extend his stay a dash for your birthday present.”

“That’s really not necessary,” I said quickly. “Clothes are expensive-“

“It’s no worry,” Giovanni said firmly.

I blinked as a cat creeped into view of the Iris Message.

“I am more than able to afford it, and you are in desperate need of a new wardrobe. He’s a demigod as well, or well, a descendant of one. His grandmother was a daughter of Aphrodite. I told him about the clothes from the sea, he’s willing to try and match the style as best as he can so your wardrobe matches.”

I flushed, “I mean… I guess?”

The cat was crouched, tail wiggling.

“Excellent,” Giovanni said. “Do you have a phone?”

“No?”

“Well, that’s disappointing. We’ll have to fix that at some point.” He frowned. “Regardless, I’ll IM you with a few times and days that work for him for you to choose from.”

“Okay,” I said, brain still registering the present. “Uh, thank you. That’s really nice of you…”

He waved his hand, “No issue, I’m happy to-“

The cat pounced, latching onto his pants and trying to climb him.

“Duke Fluffington!” He cried. “Stop that!”

I giggled as he struggled with his cat for a minute, managed to corral it to his arms.

The cat looked decidedly smug.

“Well, as I was saying,” he grumbled petting his cat.

“Duke Fluffington is very cute,” I said.

His lips twitched, “He’s a little shit, but an adorable one.”

“Percy!” Mom called from the kitchen. “Lunch is ready!”

“I have to go,” I said. “Thank you again, it really is super nice.”

“Of course,” he said. “You’re family.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I sat in the river once more, already having spent a few hours cleaning it up.

“So how’ve things been while I was gone?” I asked Eli the Eel while I manipulated a particularly buried piece of trash out of the muddy river bottom.

“The catfish tried to stage a rebellion,” Eli said. “Apparently they didn’t like the muskellunge bossing them all around.”

“Did the muskellunge do something?” I wondered. The large fish aren’t usually very bossy from the few times I’ve spoken to them.

“Not really, just started trying to make the fish clean some while you were gone. The catfish didn’t want to, the muskellunge wanted them too.”

Eli did a little twist, helping me disrupt the mud and pull the piece of trash up. Ugh, a big water container. Why do people toss these into the river?

“Wow, it would be nice to have some help with the river, but the muskellunge don’t need to have a war over it.”

Eli giggled, “They’re having fun I think. The salmon have been watching from the sidelines.”

I shook my head, tugging another large piece of trash up and guiding it out of the river.

“I hope they don’t fight too much. Do you think I should step in?”

Eli hummed, “No, I think they’re good for now. Besides, it’s fun to watch.”

I laughed, “Eli I’m supposed to stop fights, not watch them with popcorn.”

“A little murder never hurt anyone,” Eli declared sagely.

“Eli!”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The Autumn Equinox started out wonderfully.

We got up early and had a lovely breakfast, seaweed wrapped fruits and fish. It was kinda like sushi, but more like… burritos? Mini ones? It was good regardless.

Then I got to join Fetu and Masina berry picking!

Lagi was off helping gather medicinal plants with his teacher, so couldn’t join. The others were doing their activities at the camps.

“How’s land school going?” Fetu wondered as he carefully slipped through the low plants to find sea berries.

Manisi pearls made it a lot easier to have plants in the deep sea, supplying the sunlight most need to live.

“It’s going okay, all the time in the sea makes it a bit hard to readjust to land though. I keep trying to swim instead of walk and it’s so confusing when it doesn’t work.”

“Sounds like a struggle,” Masina agreed. “I know the campers spend a few months practicing walking on land, it’s a big field trip for the fifteen-year-olds.”

“Really?” I asked. “It’s weird for me, cause I’ve walked my whole life. I’ve been struggling in PE, but at least I no longer fall over every five seconds, now it’s every ten haha. It’s been a slow improvement. Oh! And I made friends with a Cyclopes!”

“A Cyclopes?” Fetu wondered.

“I think he means a Kyklopes, Cyclopes is the Latinized version,” Masina said.

“It is?” I said. “Oops. Well then yeah, Kyklopes. His name is Tyson and he’s very sweet.”

Masina handed me some Posidonia berries to add to my pouch.

“That’s great, minha pérola,” Fetu said fondly. “I’m glad you’re making friends, even if walking on land is difficult.”

“Thanks, asteri mou” I said, my face warming slightly. “School really is fun, I’m enjoying it. I even made some friends that are pagans!”

“Pagans?” Asked another familiar voice.

“Oh,” I turned. “Hi, Rosa. And yeah, pagans. They’re people that worship Gods other than the- um, the Christian and- what was the term… the one for… the angel Gods… the the-“

“I dunno,” Rosa said. “Do you mean those monotheistic ones?”

“Yeah, the three big ones, with the like, Abraham guy.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” xey said. “So you made friends that don’t worship the Monotheistic ones?”

“Yep! They’re Hellenistic, well, one is Norse, but the rest worship the Greek Gods!”

“That’s cool,” Rosa said cheerfully. “But don’t most people?”

“No,” Fetu said. “A lot on land worship the monotheistic ones and consider the specific one they worship the only one. There were wars and stuff. But there are still people who worship the polytheistic pantheons.”

Rosa looked confused, “But… what?”

Percy shrugged, “Land dwellers are weird.”

“Very,” xey agreed.

“So are you gathering any specific berries?” I asked as I dove down to tug out some more posidonia berries.

“Nah, just gathering some seaweed.”

“Have you gathered enough?” Fetu asked, leaning over to help me twist one of the berries off.

“Yep,” Rosa said cheerfully. “I’ve got all I need.”

“Wonderful,” Masina said as they twisted the currents to guide us up. “I’m finished as well. What about you guys?”

“My bag is full now,” I agreed.

“Likewise,” Fetu murmured.

“Wonderful,” Masina chirped. “Then I suppose we should head back to the castle to deposit our findings.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said cheerfully.

Fetu nudged me lightly, sending me a grin, “Race you?”

My eyes narrowed, “You’re on.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The dinner at the end of the day was amazing. There was a huge feast, with lots of different berries and seaweed blends and rolls and wraps and fish and crab and other assorted meats.

I idly wondered if it was bad to be eating it, but then decided I was not having the moral debate.

I got to sit next to Herophile, who was next to Benthesikyme, who was next to Triton on Metua’s right. To His left was Mevu’ta, then Kymopoleia and Rhodos, and across from me, Khrysaôr.

Apparently he wasn’t expected, and nor was the small sea serpent he’d brought to contribute to the Autumn Equinox festivities.

“But why shouldn’t I return to visit my family,” He’d asked innocently.

“First time you’ve cared in two thousand year,” Triton had snipped back.

“Well,” Khrysaôr’s lips curled. “Things are interesting here.”

Triton didn’t punch him, but it looked close.

The food at dinner was good, I hadn’t had half of the stuff before and tried as much as I could. Herophile pointed out Her favorite foods and showed me some good sauces.

“If you mix it with this it’s super five letter word, you can’t beat-!”

“Sweet?” I asked.

She beamed at me.

It was super sweet, I liked it.

The conversations were interesting too, until Herophile mentioned prophecy, then Khrysaôr opened his mouth.

“Makes sense you’d be interested in prophecy, what with the one about you,” he mused.

“Khrysaôr,” Triton snarled.

I blinked, “What?”

Herophile studied the food on Her plate.

“Oh, haven’t you heard?” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “The great prophecy! About a child of the Big Three. You’re the only living child of the Big Three, so it’s probably about you.”

“Unless of course,” Delphin (my Metua’s general) interrupted. “You were made immortal before it came to pass. So you really don’t need to worry.”

“Or if you died,” Khrysaôr chirped.

“Enough,” Metua snapped. “This is not a conversation for the dinner table. We will discuss it later.”

The people at the table sat quietly for a moment, until Metua started a conversation with Asoau (one of his generals) about the castle guards training.

And dinner continued normally after that, but my mind was caught on the prophecy.

Khrysaôr shot me a sharp grin, popping a piece of salmon in his mouth.

A glance at Triton calmed me, he would tell me what’s up.

He always does.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

“Khrysaôr,” Metua snapped the moment the family was alone. “What were you thinking?”

“What?” Khrysaôr said innocently. “I thought he already knew.”

“He’s thirteen!” Metua cried. “A child!”

“A child whom you’ve already sent out on a quest,” He pointed out. “And has gained a title down here. Most don’t consider that a child anymore.”

“He’s still a child,” Triton snapped. “Practically an infant.”

I wasn’t sure if I should take offense to that.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I can know whatever it is.”

Metua pursed his lips, “I was hoping to wait until at least after your fourteenth birthday. You’re too young for this responsibility.”

“It may not even be you,” Amphitrite soothed the room. “As my husband said, you are but a child. There is plenty of opportunity for someone else to fit the role.”

Herophile hummed, “Opportunity, yep.”

Metua eyed her, his brows furrowing. But then he sighed.

“I would protect you from this if I could,” he murmured.

I shifted, “is it bad?”

“It’s why there was nearly a war,” Benthesikyme said softly. “Amongst other things of course. Tension between Metu and Zeus did not grow in a day. But this prophecy… it is why Zeus was so ready to kill you, and war with Metu.”

I swallowed, “Oh.”

“The prophecy…” Metua sighed. “It was stated at the end a war that ended in 1943.”

“Was that the one, the one that happened with the mortal world war?”

“Yes,” Rhodos said, settling into a seat. “It ended before the mortal one, though the prophecy came to be announced after the mortal one ended.”

“It was announced the day after Zeus’ youngest child turned sixteen,” Poseidon said firmly. “Hades held two children as well, but Zeus had them killed to get rid of the threat.”

“But doesn’t avoiding prophecies just make them more likely to happen?” I asked.

Herophile smiled, “Yep! But everyone- seven letter word, can’t remember.”

“Forgets?” Kymopoleia asked from where she was sitting in Metua’s seat.

“Yeah!”

“Right,” Metua said with a sigh. “I would rather you not have to know it, if it does end up not applying to you then it would be needless stress.”

“Do you think it won’t?” I asked slowly.

Metua hesitated, “It is difficult to say but... As far as I’m aware you’re the only child of the Big Three alive. It… limits the possibilities that it’s someone else.”

I chewed my lip.

“You don’t have to know,” Triton said. “We’ll tell you when you’re older if you’d rather hold off.”

I flicked my tail, wishing I could pace or talk to Carl or Lyta about this. But I just have my family here, so I need to think.

The prophecy might be about me. It’s why Zeus wanted me dead. It might be why other’s are interested in me. And maybe why Kiron was acting like that with me too.

It might be why I was in danger… and… and I hate prophecies but avoiding them makes them happen usually.

Knowing will at least let me know what to expect, sorta.

“I think… I think I want to know.”

Metua nodded, “If that is your choice. This is called the Great Prophecy, I am no expert on prophecy, but this is not the first Great Prophecy, and it is likely not the last either. A Great Prophecy declared the War over sixty years ago, and this one declares another war. Many of the Great Prophecies have declared War. All have brought about a large change, this one… heralds a very large change indeed.”

I blinked, that sounds really important it.

“What is it?”

**“A half-blood of the eldest Gods**

**Shall reach sixteen against all odds**

**Opposing armies answer the calls**

**Family speaks and a King falls**

**Vows spoken force Olympus to amend**

**With death an age comes to an end”**

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I laughed as Zoey tried to step on the skateboard and nearly fell over.

“You push off with one foot, don’t put both on to start,” I giggled.

Tyson was slowly pushing back and forth on his skateboard, but Zoey was trying out mine.

“I’ve got it,” she mumbled. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry I’ve- ahh!”

She tumbled over, the skateboard going flying.

Tyson blinked, “You do not got it.”

She groaned, “You can have your skateboard back, Percy.”

I coughed, hiding my smile, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I brought my sketchbook. I don’t think skating is for me.”

She stood up, brushing off her pants, and went to claim a seat off to the side, out of the way.

“Don’t mine me!” she waved with a grin. “Have fun skating!”

I shrugged, snagging my skateboard and went back to trying to do an ollie without falling.

“How was your trip?” Tyson asked.

“It was…” I hesitated, thinking about what I learned. The prophecy was…

The first two lines were self-explanatory. **A** half-blood (which was half human half God apparently) of the Eldest Gods (which is apparently just the Big Three? I think it’s broader but they’ve declared it was the big three so…).

Then apparently armies would come and opposing meant they would be fighting… probably.

Family could be almost anyone, and there are multiple Kings so… I have no idea what’s up there.

Vows spoken, would that be Olympus amending something? Or someone else amending what Olympus did? Did someone take a vow to make Olympus do something? Is Olympus fallen there? Is it going to fall? Did it win? I don’t understand…

And then of course, **With death an age comes to an end.**

Metua said that line (and the one about a King falling) worried the Gods the most. There hasn’t been a new age since They took over. Which means…

I shook my head.

“It was informative,” I said.

Tyson nodded, “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, I got to talk to my family, and hang out with some friends. I haven’t seen some of them in a little bit, though I’ve seen some other friends.”

Tyson smiled, “That’s good!”

“It is,” I said with a fond smile.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I got to visit camp for Proerosia, which was super fun!

Walking back into the camp was almost nostalgic, though I was hear not that long ago. This time there was no electricity sparking over my skin, but I could still faintly feel the spark in the air.

I tugged at the end of the veil I’d put on, the one Silena gave me. The white and gold veil was comforting.

“Percy!” Katie called as she hugged me. “We missed you!”

“Hey Katie!” I grinned. “Hey Suki. I missed you guys too.”

Suki waved from behind Katie, “How are you doing?”

“Good, how about you?”

“I’m doing alright,” Katie chirped. “We’ve been preparing for Proerosia, which means lots of extra work in the fields so that the harvest is good.”

“The offerings are at noon, right?”

“Yeah!” Suki said. “We do it all before lunch, then spend the afternoon making the honey cakes to set out at sunset.”

“We’re just making some berry cakes to set out for Mom as a bonus,” Katie added.

I nodded, “That makes sense. Do you want me to go to the Aphrodite cabin?”

“You can hang out with us if you want,” Suki said. “But we’ll be finishing up cooking so…”

I nodded, “I’ll go say hi to Silena and the others and meet you for lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Katie said before hesitating. “Actually, I’ll walk you there.”

I blinked, but shrugged, “Okay.”

Suki headed back to the Demeter cabin as the two of us headed over to Aphrodite.

I waved to Hestia as we walked past, very happy for the necklace that cut off the uncomfortable sensations that had driven me nuts before.

“So, your school year is going good?” Katie asked.

“Yeah,” I tugged at my bracelet. “What about yours?”

“Yep, it’s going well. I’m almost completed with all the required classes, so I’ll get to do things more for fun starting next year.”

“That’s great,” I said with a grin. “Do you know what you’ll be taking?”

“I was thinking about some extra Gymnastics, and Hiking. Plus Psychology, that one would be helpful. And I was thinking about taking Leather Working, that seems like it might be fun.”

I nodded, “Yeah, you could make some cool stuff that way.”

“There are a lot of levels of it so I could just run through that,” she said with a laugh. “Otherwise I’ll probably see if I can start applying for the internships with the Godly programs. There’s one in New York city for a cooking school that I’m interested in, at least right now.”

“Wow really?”

“Yeah, it’s run by one of my older siblings, he helps mom out there.”

“It’s so weird to think that there are more demigods all over the world,” I murmured. “There’s not very many here.”

Katie nodded. “Yeah, but that is how we work. We’re all connected but spread out. The older ones making a life for themselves in the world and balancing between mortal and immortal. A lot of their businesses have two sides to things.”

“Wow,” that sounded so cool. “Why don’t they come here?”

“If we really needed the help we could call on people from other places, and they’d be up for helping out. But they made their own lives beyond the camp.” She smiled at me, “We’ve got a support system.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that, “That sounds nice. I wish I knew where the places were. It could’ve been helpful on my quest.”

She winced, “That’s a fair point. I think the Athena cabin has a chart of locations, I’ll ask Malcolm to share. There are also signs, I’ll see if I can’t grab you a copy of the list. Anyways, we’re here so I’m heading off!”

I waved, “Bye!”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The Aphrodite cabin was just like I remembered it, and I was immediately wrapped in a hug by Silena.

“Welcome back, Percy,” she said fondly. “You’re wearing the veil.”

I nodded shyly, “Yeah, thank you for it.”

“Of course,” she said. “You’re family.”

I beamed.

“You missed the harvest itself, but that can’t be helped,” Halia said as the came over. “You look great in the veil.”

I grinned, noting that they were wearing the same one, “Thanks!”

“Anyways,” Silena said. “Lunch is soon so we’re putting together the berries from our harvest for it. Come help!”

I went with them to the kitchen, oohing at all the fruits.

“This is more than just strawberries,” I said impressed.

“Yeah,” Valentina grinned. “The strawberries are definitely our biggest thing but there is the tree grove in the forest, plus the Demeter cabin grows other plants as they feel the desire.”

I nodded, that made sense. I hadn’t been to the tree grove, but it was supposed to have a lot of fruit trees.

“We’re just cutting everything up and cleaning it all,” Lapis chirped. “Trying to find the best ones for the offering.”

“Awesome, what can I do to help?”

Mitchell dragged me to the sink, “Help me wash them.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Lunch went wonderfully.

We gathered all of our offerings and placed them on the altars at the end of the mess hall.

One altar was for Demeter, to thank Her for the harvest. Katie and Suki had also added little berry cakes for Her to go with the fruits.

One altar was for Apollo, to thank Him for His Oracle (the Oracle of Delphi) and for His prophecies. The Apollo cabin in particular made apple pie for Him.

The Apollo cabin had the biggest focus on prophecy (of course), but anyone could try to learn some of the prophecy arts if they wanted to.

Afterwards we had a delicious lunch (though I had to sit alone).

I tried to ignore the stares, not all of them nice.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

After lunch the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins and I got together to make the honey cakes.

They required a lot of honey.

It was fun, and familiar. They were friends, family, and it showed.

Silena took over stirring when Suki got tired, and Halia showed me how to mix the cakes. Valentina put the cupcake holders together so that we could pour in the cakes and Mitchell and Lapis took over cleaning the dishes. Katie was running around with the ingredients and helping make sure the recipe was right.

I couldn’t help the warmth when the cakes were ready, and we carefully set aside the six mini cakes for Demeter and Apollo before splitting up the cupcake sized ones amongst us.

“Honey cake is really good,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve never had it before.”

“We make it for all the festivals,” Valentina said. “They’re great.”

“I’ll have to make them for Oskhophoria, that’s tomorrow…”

“Yeah,” Mitchell frowned. “A shame you can’t stay for tomorrow too.”

I nodded, “My mom wants me to be home.”

“We’ll give you some of the harvest,” Silena said. “So you can offer it to Mr. D tomorrow.”

I grinned, “Thanks! My mom already bought candles, a purple one for Lord D and ones for Apollo and Demeter too, a gold yellow and green.”

“That sounds cool,” Lapis chirped. “It’s so nice to have family that celebrates with you.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I really like it.”

I couldn’t help but wonder about Annabeth, was her family still being difficult? Would she be able to celebrate Proerosia or Oskhophoria? I hoped so.

I’d have to call her later.

The conch horn rang out, making us all falter.

“Looks like it’s time to light the candles and set out the honey cakes,” Silena said.

“You have to leave after, right?” Katie said with a pout.

“Yeah, but I’ll be back eventually!”

“Yeah, you’re not getting away from us that easily,” Suki teased.

Lapis snorted, “Drew would drag him back.”

“Rightfully so,” Katie said with a sage nod.

“Lets go guys,” Halia said with a laugh. “We need to get to the mess hall for the offerings.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mitchell said.

Silena, Katie, and I grabbed the mini cakes to bring up to the mess hall and the group of us headed out.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Placing the cakes and murmuring a prayer was quick, what was less quick was heading out of the camp.

“Heading out then, Jackson?” Ella (the replacement to Luke as the cabin head) asked.

She was standing with Edite, Connor, and Travis. None of them looked happy to see me.

Katie dropped a hand on my shoulder, “He has to get home.”

“How nice that he _gets_ to go home,” Connor muttered.

Katie stiffened, “Yes well, he’s loyal to his family so.”

I blinked, slow understanding dawning.

“So he says,” Edite grumbled. “Running off to his Dad and saying our brother tried to attack him.”

“Enough,” Silena said firmly. Her voice chimed in a way that was familiar. “Leave us alone.”

The Hermes kids walked away without saying anything else.

“Let’s get up to the hill,” Silena said with a frown. “So, you can get to the car.”

“They’re angry about Luke?” I asked as we walked to the hill.

“They’re bitter that he’s gone, he is- was… really loved.”

I frowned, “But he betrayed them.”

How could they want him when he betrayed them? When he’s planning things that would hurt him?

I don’t understand.

“They just… they don’t believe it,” Katie shrugged. “But we know you wouldn’t lie, and neither would the Gods.”

I blinked, “Oh… thank you.”

We didn’t talk anymore as we reached the top of the hill.

“Have a safe drive home,” Katie said, tugging me into a hug.

“Have fun in school,” Silena agreed.

“Bye guys,” I said. “You stay safe too.”

I headed down the hill, turning to wave before I got into the car.

“How was camp?” Mom asked as I buckled in.

I looked out the window up the hill, seeing my friends waving.

Despite the stuff at the end…

“It was good.”

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Oskhophoria started bright and early with me and mom pouring out wine for Lord D.

Then we made phallus pancakes! They were really good, with chocolate chips and blue whipped cream.

Mom and me made a big honey cake and cut a slice for each of us. The rest we put on the family altar (and I put a small piece on the altar for Lord D in my room).

We had a really nice lunch too, and lit candles for Lord D during it.

It was overall a really nice Oskhophoria.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Drew hummed, looking over my math work.

“That’s not bad, you forgot the negative sign though.”

I groaned, “Thanks. I keep forgetting them.”

“Try circling them really big, it’s what I do.”

I nodded, making a note to do that.

“So, how’s Lacy?” I asked. They’re going to the same school.

“We’ve ended up in different friend groups,” Drew said. “Which is fair, they don’t know we’re related.”

“You don’t really look alike, even your eyes are darker than hers.”

“Yeah,” Drew brushed her hair back. “My eyes are always dark, even with all the shifting.”

“They’re pretty,” I said.

She grinned, “Thank you. Yours are nice too, they tend to lean towards darker shades I think.”

I shrugged, “I only notice them changing when other people point them out.”

She laughed, “Yeah, I guessed. Well how are your friends at school? You’ve made friends right?”

“Yeah! Tyson and Zoey are my closest friends, then Nikola hangs out with us sometimes and Kai, Acantha, and Klara tend to follow us around.”

She snickered, “You have a fan club?”

I flushed, “No! They just… don’t seem to have many friends… and they’re nice and it’s fun to hang out.”

Drew hummed, “Well they have you as a friend, so that’s something.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I like this school, even if Matt is a ufanto.”

“Who’s Matt?”

“He’s some guy that thinks he’s great, keeps bothering me and my friends. Well… he hasn’t done much lately, and he seems scared of Klara…”

“Huh,” she hummed. “Wonder what happened there.”

“I dunno, he was out for a few days and came back terrified of Klara.”

She blinked, “Did Klara beat him up?”

“She couldn’t’ve,” I said. “She’s cool but she trips over her own feet ninety percent of the time.”

“Strange,” Drew mused. “Oh, that should be two x squared plus three x.”

I frowned down at the page, “I thought it was four x squared plus three x…”

“If you do four x squared then you’ll get the wrong thing for the next part,” she leaned over to write on my page. “See, like this.”

I settled into the familiar work with Drew, listening as she explained the math problem to me.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I drifted nervously in the training room waiting for the trainer to finish looking me over. I’d just finished the basic stretches and exercises ze directed me through.

“Okay, we’ll have to do some swimming drills. You did pretty good with the flexibility but the speed and direction changing could be better. Now lets see how you are with a knife.”

I was handed a practice knife, the same weight and shape of my own.

“Now attack me,” Uku said.

I flicked my tails and lunged.

Uku blocked, twisting my knife with zer own and sending it spinning through the water.

“Again,” ze said.

I pulled the knife back to me with the water and attacked again.

And again.

And again.

Uku blocked every single one easily.

“Your form is horrid, your acting like you can only attack from in front of behind. You are in the ocean, utilize it.”

I blinked, oh right… I can go up.

I attacked again, flipping up and over zer head and jabbing at it, only for zer to block smoothly and flip, zer tails knocking me back with an oof.

“Ow,” I muttered.

“Again,” ze said.

I attacked again.

And again.

And again.

For another twenty minutes Uku had me attack, slowly adjusting my form with each attack. Finally I managed to not lose my life in the first attack, and Uku called it quits.

“That’s enough with your knife. We’ll come back to it later, for now let’s see you with your trident.”

I nodded, breathing hard. Even in the sea that much work is _hard_.

I put the knife off to the side, and tugged on my trident charm, letting it extend into my full sized bronze trident.

“Attack me,” Uku said.

So, I did.

This time I actually managed to hold my own a little. I didn’t hit zer at all mind you, but I didn’t loose my trident nearly as fast either. I could actually attack and trade blows.

When ze beat me, Uku told me to attack again. And we continued to trade blows.

After a few rounds Uku nodded, “You’re much better at fighting with a trident. We’ll work on it more, against different weapons as well.”

I nodded.

“Now then, lets see how you do with a sword.”

I bit back a groan and accepted the blade handed to me.

Zoë’s blade wasn’t for something as basic as training. Riptide would be used for real battles, when I need it the most, only.

The sparring began anew.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Okeanus POV**

I hummed as my spies slipped out, their orders clear.

People weren’t talking about Poseidon’s failings nearly as much as I needed. Only a few truly recognized that he’d thrown a child into danger, and likely would continue to.

I would make sure they all knew about it.

Poseidon would not win, and the sea would see his failings.

I carefully didn’t think of the decision that was made, that would be dealt with later.

After the solstice.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Bonus Klara POV**

I glared at the petulu that had dared to speak to the prince in such a way. He wants a fight? I’ll show him a fight.

“You sure you wanna do this?” The boy sneered. “I wouldn’t wanna punch a girl.”

I steadied myself, remembering my training for fighting on land.

“And I wouldn’t want to fight a seamu areto yet here we are,” I snapped.

He scowled, “Start speaking English, honestly what the hell is wrong with you.”

“I speak a language far more refined than your ufanto language,” I scoffed. “And it isn’t my fault you’re too seamu to understand it.”

“You bit-“

I lunged, and punched him in the neck.

He choked, staggering back.

I kicked up, aiming for the land dweller male weak point, and smirked at his pathetic squeaking cry of pain.

He fell to his knees, struggling to gasp for breath.

I leaned over, grabbing his shirt and yanking him up.

“Don’t ever speak to Perseus-aia like that again,” I snarled. “Because if you do…”

I drew a knife out, “You will not live to see the next tide.”

He gaped at the knife, eyes flicking between me and the knife.

“Understand?”

“Yes-“ he squeaked out. “Yes ma’am.”

I dropped him, turning and walking away.

That ought to teach him to show some manners to Perseus-aia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of his lessons? How about the holidays? Did you like the Great Prophecy :D?
> 
> The Sign Language that they use in the beginning is heavily based off of ASL because that's what I'm learning and what I have the most resources for. It has some differences cause it is a different language, and it has a variety of styles (like land sign languages) with ways to do it with fins, tentacles, and other body parts.
> 
> ~~OC's~~  
> Serafina=one of Percy's instructors, teaches him Siren's Song  
> Zoey=Hellenistic Pagan, in Percy's Portuguese group  
> Kai=one of Percy's Guards, studious  
> Nikola=Norse Pagan, one of Percy's guards  
> Acantha=one of Percy's guards  
> Klara=one of Percy's guards, likes weapons  
> Mr. Jefferson=A teacher at Percy's school  
> Giovanni=Aphrodite kid, Italian, fancy  
> Duke Fluffington= Giovanni's cat  
> Eli the Eel= the eel in the river Percy is cleaning, you might remember her from all the way back in the beginning of book one  
> Asoau=a general in the sea  
> Suki=has RA, Demeter child  
> Halia=Aphrodite child, non-bi, makes cookies  
> Lapis=Aphrodite child, good at hair, doesn't like to fight  
> Ella=current head of the Hermes cabin  
> Edite=Hermes camper
> 
> ~~Halmaheran~~  
> Hotivim=inhaler basically  
> Metua=Father  
> vlua petulu=Dumbass land dweller (roughly)  
> Manisi Pearls= Sun pearls  
> Mevu’ta=step mom  
> ufanto=bastard  
> petulu=land dweller  
> seamu areto= stupid fucker  
> seamu=stupid
> 
> ~~suffix~~  
> aia=prince
> 
> ~~Italian~~  
> (I am not an Italian speaker and no one in my server was completely confident in their skills in Italian but this is the estimated translation by our efforts, if someone speaks Italian and knows better lmk)
> 
> ~~Portuguese~~  
> minha pérola=My pearl
> 
> ~~Greek~~  
> asteri mou=my star  
> Disgustoso, le uniformi sono così poco lusinghiere=Disgusting, uniforms are so unflattering


	11. What's in a Name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed the story name changed, I also changed book one's name. I just wasn't vibing with the previous one, but it's still got it noted in the summary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, I think... I think I'll be moving to every other week for a bit. Physics is a pain in the ass and takes up a lot of time so I'm struggling to keep to my weekly schedule (as you may have noticed).
> 
> Anyways, this is the last chapter before the solstice! The custody battle will be ending next chapter!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life  
> Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/5bBf8mMCtQ

I drifted, flitting from dream to dream through the nights.

Rarely was it something I could remember, or really anything I knew.

Fragments of shadows and sky, conflict rising, a figure holding up something great and powerful, gold eyes, bird cries, the land asleep.

One night I dreamed of a woman cradling a child who had eyes like hot coals, hair like obsidian, golden-tan skin.

The woman reminded me strikingly of Zeus for some reason.

She smiled at the child and smiled again when the gold-eyed Titan (Kronos-tito, my grandfather) leaned over, smiling down at the child.

Was that Hestia? She looked similar even now.

I blinked, and another night saw a figure of dripping shadows, winged darkness tucked close with shining light and rising sun drifting near.

Words that I didn’t understand, spoken in tongues older than the sun, and dripping shadows curled around the light.

It didn’t snuff them out, simply cradled.

Another night I stared as oceans raged and lashed out and crashed and I was swept away by the currents.

A presence so old and deep and aching.

Subtle creeping drifted through it, something older, quieter, ancient and deep and powerful and _angry_.

I gasped awake and feared the comfortable currents that had always guarded me.

The dreams kept on, curling through my mind as I slept.

I stood in a group of beings, old, powerful, glowing, immense in all ways.

My necklace guarded me in part, but it was barely a blanket in a snowstorm. The thinnest of barriers.

Gold eyes looked out, landing on me as if He could see through the thousands of years that separated us.

The child was cradled in the woman’s arms, small and delicate and treasured.

Dripping shadows leaned to shifting sands and brilliant light greeted the child, Hestia, warmth and home and light.

I was dazed and awed and surrounded by _power_.

I looked back to gold-eyes, Kronos, shifting sands and blinked as the shifting shifted.

Brilliant light stood by Him, speaking as His sands shifted more and more.

His gaze tightened, His eyes drifting away, landing on the child and He tensed.

The sky crashed, light flashed, the child was introduced, and He acknowledged Her.

Hestia, named on the seventh day of Her birth.

Hestia, smiling up at Her father who had smiled down at Her moments before.

Hestia, whose light was devoured by the shifting sands that shifted wrong.

I stared as the shifting sands shifted wrong and Tethys reached for Him.

Help Him.

He left Them.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I carefully set up the Bunsen burner and the beaker, settling back and glancing at Tyson who was placing the other ingredients together.

I made notes on what we were doing as Tyson added the liquids.

“Did you guys at 2ml or 2.5ml?” Klara whispered from behind us.

“Uh, of the red one?” I asked.

Tyson squinted at the label on the bottle, too complicated.

“Yeah.”

“2.5ml,” I said. “And then 5 ml of the blue one.”

“How’d you get that measurement?” She wondered studying the instructions.

“We used the equation on the board,” I said. “To get the minimum that we needed. You add the-”

“Oooh, so you had to add that… oops… I subtracted.”

I laughed, “Good thing you caught it-“

A boom made me jump out of my seat, and I spun around to find the Beaker shattered and… the bench was on fire.

“Avero!” I cursed, reaching for my shimmery white water bottle from the Lotus Hotel.

A light twist of my fingers and the water covered the fire.

And didn’t help at all.

Areo, it’s an oil fire.

“Stay calm!” The teacher called rushing over. “No need to panic!”

She dropped the fire blanket on top of the fire and ushered us back.

“What did you do?” She asked with a frown.

“Er… followed the instructions?” I offered.

She stared, glancing back at the remains of the beaker.

“Riigghhhtt…”

“Wow,” Klara said. “Maybe I should double check your math.”

I flushed as she giggled.

Matt sat dead quiet next to her (he’s been strangely quiet for the last few weeks).

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I sat with Kymopoleia on the little island in the middle of the ocean. I don’t know where exactly we are but it’s nice.

Kymopoleia has taken to bringing me here to practice with the storm guide to try and twist the winds.

So far I haven’t had much luck. It’s been months since she started teaching me and I still wasn’t twisting the winds right for the storm.

“Are you sure that this is something I can do?” I asked with a frown.

She took a bit of her banana, “Well sure it is. Or weren’t you the one insisting you wanted to learn all the sea magics? And anyways, this is the hardest step, even I took a bit to get it down. The average is about two months to begin to see progress, but it’s not unusual for it to take longer.”

I chewed my lip, it had been about two months… so maybe I wasn’t doing that bad?

I took a deep breath and focused on the top again. It had only done four turns at most so far, only barely starting a curl of wind.

I can do this.

I spun the top and pushed my power into the top, then scowled when it only did three turns.

“Why can’t I get it to work? I’m putting my power in it like you said, and spinning it, so why-“

She hummed, leaning over, “Everyone has a different way of doing it, how you guide your power-“

I blinked slowly, guide… storm guide…

“Wait-“

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“It’s more than just putting your power into the top?”

She blinked, once, twice, and she laughed.

“Oh, oh Pontus, that’s the problem! I should’ve guessed, I suppose I wasn’t very descriptive. Yeah, Perseus, you gotta guide the power to make the top spin. Everyone does it differently, but just shoving raw power in isn’t enough.”

Oh.

Oops.

I stared at the top in my hand with a frown.

“The biggest problem with this part is finding the way of guiding the storm that works for you,” Kymopoleia said. “It takes work to find out how to guide your power.”

I nodded distractedly, thinking hard and trying to ignore the twist in my stomach.

I’d been so dumb for two months, wasted her time and looked like an idiot.

I need to focus on this now.

Controlling a storm requires wind and water, but lightning is more fire and air and friction…

So, air, water, and fire are needed for a storm.

I need to control multiple things simultaneously, like when I guide my ice attacks.

I chewed my lip, it doesn’t just need to spin, it needs to gather, and mix, and build up.

I slowly fed my power into the top and focused on spinning, building up, pulling in.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the image of Kymopoleia’s storm, that she’d shown me. And then I spun the top.

I opened my eyes, and gasped in delight as it spun, once, twice, three, four- eight! Eight times! But then it flopped once more, the small amount of wind and water dissipating.

“Yeah, now you’re on the right track!” Kymopoleia cheered. “You have to make the wind and water mix though, not just both be pulled in.”

I beamed, “I think I get it now, I just gotta figure out how to do it…”

She grinned, “You’ll get it, just keep working at it.”

I nodded, focusing back on the storm guide and carefully feeding my power into it, imagining it more like… threading out. Focusing it in a way that spreads and latches and whips it up while spinning. Like octopus legs!

I bit my lip as I focused on the image, rocking back on my heels, then spun the top.

I watched as it spun, silently counting the spins and barely daring to twitch as the top spun and spun and spun, 9 spins, 9 spins and wind and water blending into a mist.

It all dissipated as the top stopped though.

“Oh, whatever you did there is an excellent start,” Kymopoleia said cheerfully. “You just gotta get better at that method I think.”

I nodded, intently studying the top. Why did it stop spinning?

I need to figure out what was wrong to fix it.

“I’ll figure it out,” I mumbled. “Not gonna waste another two months.”

“You didn’t waste two months,” Kymopoleia chided. “You might not have figured out the way to guide your power, but you did learn how to keep a steady flow and continuously feed your power into the storm guide.”

I peered up at her curiously, I guess I did learn that…

“It’s definitely connected to you now, which means it’ll work easier for you as time goes on.”

I nodded slowly, I’ve definitely had an easier time feeding my power into it as time went on.

“It also means that you know how to keep a steady flow and to keep going when low on energy,” she grinned. “All of that is something that most figure out while figuring out the way to guide their power… you just split it into two steps is all.”

“Oh… that makes sense I guess…”

“I’d give you a few weeks to figure this part out now, since you have the other parts down pretty well.”

I straightened, a few weeks. I could do that.

I will do that.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I swept the water in an arc, letting it flow over me and over the land and wringing all the pollution out of it.

I was getting better at this, bigger movements and fine control.

The water splashed back into the river and I paused to study what all had fallen out (now completely dry because I don’t want gross wet stuff). It was a large pile, I’d been working for a few hours to empty stuff from the river.

There’s a few dollars there, pocketing those, and ooh a watch.

It looks nice, does it work?

I poked it and decided it might work, at the least it looks high quality so maybe I can sell it.

Or maybe use it as a gift for one of my camp friends.

I grinned, it’s so nice having camp friends, but now I have to keep up with birthdays.

They all got me nice stuff for mine, so I asked Drew to remind me of theirs. I now have the dates all marked on my calendar, and circled, with reminders for a week before.

There’s a lot of birthday’s in December for some reason, at least amongst the Aphrodite kids.

I decided to ask Drew if any of them would like a new watch, I only really know a few of them well enough to guess.

I hummed and dug through the stuff some more, finding two wallets with almost six hundred dollars between them.

That’s a lot of money!

There were also a few bracelets, the metal was all corroded, so I can’t tell whether they’re worth anything, I’ll have to clean them.

A few sparkling stone caught my eye and I ended up collecting assorted rings too.

I added my spoils to my backpack and then sighed.

The hardest part is and always will be moving the trash someplace to dispose of it. Otherwise it would just sit on the banks and no one would move it and it would smell awful (not that the river didn’t already).

I raised the water once move, gathering all the trash up and freezing the water around it, my eyes narrowed as I used my hands to guide it to slide up the hill and out from under the cover of the underpass.

I dropped it casually in the same spot as usual, right by those big trash things that the big companies use.

Okay, that should be enough cleaning for the day.

I blinked when I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye, growth and warmth brushing plants, the first sensation I’d gotten out of camp or the sea since I’d received the necklace.

The woman, with dark brown skin and kinky black hair that was piled up into a puff, wore a deep green dress.

Her eyes were focused on me, dark and intense, before she was gone in a shimmer.

I blinked, who-

That had to be an immortal…

Her presence… it reminded me of the Demeter cabin.

Was that-

But what did I do to grab Her attention?

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Euphemia waited patiently as I finished scribbling down the notes on the different lunar dates of importance.

The full moon, with the celebrations I’ve already done before, the blue moons, a much bigger celebration, and then the new moon, which is not a good date to do stuff.

“Now then, lets move on to the major holidays of the sea. All the different kingdoms have local holidays, but we’ll only be focusing on the ocean wide holidays. First, Moon Fall.”

“Moon Fall?” I wondered.

She nodded, “Moon Fall is immediately between the winter solstice, and the spring equinox. It is about honoring the long nights of the moon that passed and mourning the short passes of the moon to come.”

“That’s interesting,” I mused. “On land they would celebrate the longer days.”

“The moon is far more important than the sun,” Euphemia said firmly. “But the land will speak of the sun all tide long. We honor the moon, for it is the guide of the sea, the sun simply warms the ocean waters.”

I nodded, I understood that. For the ocean, the moon was vital. The sun was just extra, and a risk as it could dry mers out if they were on the surface too long.

“For Moon Fall we set out the ponisi pearls and the silver moon mirrors, and we lay out offerings for the moon during the time that the nights are short, and the moon is less visible. This is also a time when many honor spirit, for the brighter days mean that the spirits are easier to limit.”

I scribbled notes down. That was interesting, I wondered if there were other things to do with spirits.

“Next up is of course the spring equinox, when the moon and the sun are equal. This isn’t of much importance in the sea beyond it being a time when the divine and the mortal are able to interact the easiest, but we still honor it by aiding coral growth and taking care of the plants and animals. There is usually a private family meal as well.”

I hummed, that makes sense. Meals are a big part of holidays in the ocean, almost all of the holidays I know of have them. It's the same for holidays on land really.

“Next is Tempest Eve, when we begin to prepare for the storm season to come. Those in the shallower waters usually migrate to avoid any dangers, and many prepare foods in case the storms are extra rough. It is a time of preparation, and those that aid in making and soothing storms are working extra hard to prepare.”

“So mers in the sea help make the storms?”

She nodded, “On occasion. Either to punish land-dwellers causing trouble in the sea, or to aid in the passage of animals. Sometimes even to keep massive storms from forming later, by interrupting the sequences needed for them to form.”

“And then the ones who sooth the storms are lessening their effect?”

She smiled, “Indeed. If there are wars occurring in this time, though it has been many years since the last one, then the storm season would be the opening of the most devastating warfare.”

I nodded, shifting at that. Storms can cause a lot of problems if unexpected, but those in the sea are usually good at predicting them. At the least there are specialists who can sense the storms. Kymopoleia was telling me about it.

“Now then, next up is the summer solstice.”

“We do sun catchers and sun dials at camp, along with flower gathering and stuff.”

She nodded, “That is the tradition on land. In the sea we set out monisi pearls, and likewise set out sun catchers. Many use sea glass or assorted jewels or metals to make them. We also tend to have a meal. It isn’t a major holiday, beyond the same divine and mortal balance and the meeting the Olympians have, but it is also treasured as the days begin to shorten and the moon gets more visibility once more.”

I scribbled down those notes, doodling a little sun as she waited for me to finish. So there was the moon, the spring, the storms, then the summer. If the moon was when the moon was being less visible... then now the moon would be more visible so...

“Then what? Another one to do with the moon?”

Euphemia smiled, “It is indeed another one to do with the moon. Moon Rise, is a day honoring the lengthening of the night and thus the extended time that the moon is visible to shine on ocean waters. We have feasts and celebrate. Small gifts are commonly exchanged, and it is viewed as a time of strength and growth.”

That’s cool, I wish I got to celebrate Moon Rise with them. 

"When is Moon Rise?"

"It is in Kalmav," she said. "You arrived in the sea from your camp in Mairomav, the next month."

I nodded as she continued.

“Next up is the Fall Equinox, which you celebrated with us already so I won’t go into detail there. You know of the harvest and hunt, and the feast we have.”

“Yeah, it was really nice.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” she murmured. “After that, between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, is the Day of Passing. It is a day to be on guard, and a day of remembrance. The barriers between the living and the dead are weaker on this day, especially in the sea. It is a delicate balance between balance and the darkest night.”

“I know the land-dwellers have a similar holiday,” I said hesitantly. “I didn’t realize that was in the sea too.”

She nodded, “Yes, it is an important day. I call it a holiday, but it is more a time of vigil. Especially in the deep sea, where there are, on occasion, cracks that open to the darkest parts of the underworld, Tapohu grows strong on this day. Those of the deep guard the rest of the ocean from those that would seek to slip through those cracks.”

I swallowed, Tapohu, the deep pit of the Undersea that goes straight to the deepest most dangerous parts of the underworld, “Oh.”

“But despite this threat,” she continued. “It is also a day of remembrance. Many do family meals, and set aside a portion for any that have passed that drift on that day.”

“Do they try to speak to them?”

“Not on that day,” she said firmly. “You do not contact them then. You should only contact the dead if you must, or on days to celebrate with them. The dead will seek access to the world, but to greet them on the night when they have the most freedom… it is to open yourself to them and put you at risk of losing yourself.”

I nodded quickly, “So don’t contact the dead. Got it.”

“They can be contacted,” she corrected. “But it must be done carefully, and with planning. On the Day of Passing we guard our homes from them. Many kingdoms also have a day of honoring the dead and welcoming them to the world of the living, with limits of course.”

I nodded, scribbling that down.

“Now then, there are only two more holidays left. The Winter Solstice, which is a time to eat with your family and celebrate the long night where the moon shines bright. It is for peace and comfort.”

“On land we do Heliogenna as well, or at least that’s what I learned at camp. It's a newer holiday apparently but the Khiron thinks it's best to adapt with the times and Lord D seems to like it."

"The Greeks have always shifted with the time periods, making new rituals and holidays isn't at all unusual. As long as the Gods are satisfied all is well."

I nodded, "For the solstice itself though... I’ve just been giving Triton gifts… was that bad?”

“Not at all,” she assured. “Many families have their own traditions, and giving gifts isn’t an uncommon one. It is the darkest night of the year, and thus celebrated by the sea.”

I relaxed, “Oh, that’s good. And I guess that makes sense.”

She smiled before continuing to the last holiday, “Finally, there is the End of the Year. This celebration is three days long, the last three days of the year. It’s time off from work for everyone, well, except the rulers. We clean everything during this time.”

“Like spring cleaning on land?”

“I suppose,” she agreed. “Cleaning, removing old things that will no longer be used, making donations, and reorganizing gardens is common in this time. Many grow more coral or add to their gardens. Quite a few travel to family.”

I scribbled notes down, “That all makes sense.”

“Additionally, these are the days that all are equal. From the highest king to the lowest shellfish. You grant aid to all that need it, and to be cruel or unreasonable during the days of the End of Year is looked down on. These days are for peace, to the point that feuds are set aside, and temporary peace will show even in the harshest of wars.”

“Wait, the wars have a cease fire?”

Her lips twitched, “They do indeed. Many of the largest treaties were arranged during the End of Year. This time is for peace amongst all. To break that peace is a large taboo that thus far few have dared.”

I nodded solemnly, “That’s really cool. I wish we had that on land.”

“Land-dwellers work differently,” Euphemia said drily. “We cannot hope to understand them.”

“So then what about the specific kingdom holidays?” I asked, flipping pages.

“We will start with the Atlantean holidays,” she declared.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I gasped for breath as the obnoxious beep went off again.

I hate the pacer test. So much.

I stumbled to a stop on the other side of the line, struggling to breathe.

Zoey was bent over beside him, struggling to draw air, and Acantha and Kai were already out. Klara was in by sheer force of will.

Nikola was doing really well though, calm deep breaths and standing straight.

It was unfair.

**Beep**

I groaned and took off once more, I would do at least sixty before giving in.

Tyson ran alongside me, not even looking winded.

That’s Cyclopes genetics for you, amazing.

At least nowadays I wasn’t tripping every five seconds, I’d only stumbled a few times during the test.

A huge improvement on the beginning of the year (though every time I returned from the sea I was clumsy for a few days).

I paused for breath once more, sharing a miserable look with Zoey. We were on number forty-eight.

Ugh.

**Beep**

I started running again.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

The full moon ceremony this time was much like the last time, though this time Triton had other responsibilities, so Herophile came with Fetu, Lagi, and I.

It was a lot of fun, we played word games and tried to sing the waves into shapes (or well, Fetu did, I just gave shape suggestions and hummed along).

Lagi quizzed me on anatomy and I failed horribly because I still have not read the books. I told him I was reading the land ones first, but I’d switch to the sea ones now since that was where I’d be learning.

I had not read any land ones either.

There was a decent group of mer at the spot we’d gotten to this time, so there was a lot of trading our ponofa. I even got to meet some new mers who were happy to talk about Thermomancy.

All in all, it was a fun time, even if Triton wasn’t there.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I finally got around to reading the healing books and Pontus were they dry.

They had a lot of charts though, so at least there was that.

I learned a lot about the bones in the mer body, and how they were built. They weren’t made of calcium apparently, unlike the human body.

And there are a lot of different kind of mer, some have different bone structures and their bones may be made differently. You had to be able to identify that information for intense treatment.

I frowned, mer bones were interesting, able to handle a lot more pressure than human bones. And mer muscles and lungs could handle larger rapid changes in pressure too.

Some didn’t do well in deep water regardless, and some didn’t do well in shallow water. Some did badly in light, some in dark. Some did well with rapid changes in pressure, to the point they could dive to the bottom of the ocean and come back up, and some couldn’t even handle a hundred feet of sudden change.

It was all very interesting, I couldn’t help but wonder where exactly I fell on that scale.

I didn’t seem to have trouble with rapid changes in pressure…

Oh well, I’ll ask Lagi some time.

Back to studying, ugh.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

Herophile studied the stuffed octopus on my bed (Lyta was adoring it, thought it was made in her likeness).

“What is that?” Herophile asked curiously.

I blinked, “An octopus?”

“No no, the- four letters, plushy-“

I thought for a second, “Soft?”

“Yes! Anyways, the soft thing… it looks kinda like an octopus? I guess? But what is it?”

“Oh, it’s a stuffed animal.”

She blinked at me, “You… stuff animals?”

“They’re made out of cloth, and filled with cotton, they’re soft. I got it from the aquarium when Zoey, Tyson, Nikola, and me went last weekend. It was for Nikola’s birthday.”

She nodded slowly, “Huh, I’ve never seen that before.”

I watched her nudge the soft stuffed animal, a look of delighted curiousity on her face.

“One sec,” I said as I hurried out of the room, digging through the hall closet.

I didn’t have many stuffed animals as a kid, Gabe said they were childish and tended to get rid of them, but I did have one big lion plushy I’d gotten at a fair mom took me to. I yanked it out of the back of the closet and grinned.

“Herophile,” I called coming back into my room. “Here you go.”

Her eyes widened as she took the stuffed lion, “For me?”

I nodded, “It’s a stuffed lion. I won it at the fair a few years ago.”

I jolted when she wrapped her arms around me, and then relaxed.

“I _love_ it!” she said, pulling back with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Perseus.”

I grinned, “You’re welcome.”

“Why don’t you have more of these?” She asked as she hugged the lion.

“They can be expensive,” I said, shuffling. “And my stepdad… well he didn’t like them.”

“I see,” she said with a frown before she smiled at me brilliantly. “Well I like them.”

I brightened, “I’m glad!”

“It’s a shame we don’t have something like this in the ocean… I should fix that… stuffed animals…”

She stared at the stuffed lion in her arms, a gleam in her eyes.

“Well, anyways, can you teach me to make those blue cookies you brought down last weekend?”

I blinked, “You wanna learn how to make cookies?”

She nodded, “We don’t make cookies in the ocean, but those were really good. I’d like to learn.”

“I don’t mind teaching you,” I said bouncing on my toes. “They’re really fun to make! Mom taught me.”

“Wonderful!” Herophile said cheerfully. “Let’s bake cookies!”

I let her tug me to the kitchen with a smile.

Spending time with my immortal family is really nice, Kymopoleia is a lot of fun and teaches me loads about storms, Triton is of course the best big brother ever, and Herophile is just super sweet and really nice to be around.

“You need to grab the flour,” I said. “It’s in the pantry there.”

Herophile darted over, staring into the pantry.

I pulled out milk and eggs, grabbing the food dye and chocolate chips from the cabinet.

Grabbing the last few ingredients I turned around and blinked at Herophile still staring into the pantry.

“Did you find the flour?”

“I do not see any flowers,” Herophile said primely.

I snickered, “Not flowers, flour, here.”

I moved over to pull out the large tupperware container of flour (easier to use than bags so mom always dumped the flour in).

“That’s weird.”

“Land-dwellers are weird in general,” I said with a laugh. “But flour is important for a lot of foods.”

“So what do we do next?”

I pulled out the bowls and spoons and whisk.

“We mix the ingredients!”

What followed next was a fabulous sequence of disasters, from the flour spilling everywhere to the _all_ the chocolate chips being dumped in the batter to accidentally making three times the amount we intended.

By the end we had flour everywhere, water all over the counter, and chocolate chips in our hair.

The cookies turned out fabulous though, even if they had far too many chocolate chips in them.

“We should make cookies again!” Herophile cheered as she ate three of them.

I snorted as I bit into a cookie but couldn’t keep the smile from stretching across my lips, “Yeah, this was fun. We should do it again some time.”

She beamed, “Can I take some cookies to the ocean to share?”

“Yeah, take like… most of them.”

I gathered up a bunch of the cookies, “We made a few extra.”

She snapped her fingers and the cookies vanished.

“I should get going, but today was a lot of fun, Perseus. I’ll visit again!”

She hugged me, then scooped up her new stuffed lion and disappeared in a swirl of sunlight and sea-mist.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

I grinned as I admired Zoey’s costume, “You look like an amazing, the best Katara I’ve seen.”

Zoey posed, dressed up in Katara’s dress with little blue streamers on her hands.

“Thank you, and I must say you’re a stunning boy-Katara.”

I grinned, “Why thank you.”

Katara is the best character after all, and I saw this really cool art of her as a guy, so now I’m boy-Katara. The art called it genderbending.

“Percy!” Tyson called.

He was dressed up as a ghost, with a bloody sheet covering him.

…

I hope that’s fake blood.

“You both look very water-tribey,” drawled the familiar voice of Nikola.

I turned around and laughed at the sight of him.

“That’s an amazing Triton costume,” Zoey snickered.

“Thank you,” Nikola said. “Just a shame I can’t actually control water, and there’s no Ursula for me to fight.”

I had to stifle a laugh at his costume, it looked very much like the Triton from the Little Mermaid movie.

“I think it’s amazing,” I said cheerfully.

“Are you supposed to be a merman?” Acantha wondered as she came over.

“I’m Triton.”

Acantha stared blankly.

She was dressed up like a witch, one of the classic store-bought witch costumes.

Kai walked over, dressed like a zombie, “Did you say Triton?”

“The king of the sea,” Nikola said straight faced.

Kai stared blankly.

Zoey and I giggled off to the side as Klara joined the group.

“Nice merman costume,” she said cheerfully, looking like a very impressive sea dragon.

“Thanks, I’m Triton.”

She stared blankly.

Zoey started cackling, leaning against me.

“Have you- have you- you never seen the- the Little Mermaid?” she managed to get out between giggles.

“The what?” Klara asked.

“We need a movie night,” Nikola said with a shake of his head. “This is a travesty.”

“The worst,” I agreed. “Next thing you’re gonna say you haven’t seen Avatar.”

All three stared at me.

“Oh my Pontus, you haven’t seen Avatar.”

“Er…” Klara hesitated.

“We must fix that.”

The bell rang, making all of us jump.

“Ah, after class,” Zoey giggled. “We’ll have a movie night later.”

“Definitely,” I agreed, walking with Tyson and Klara to Science.

**OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO**

**Kai POV**

I sighed as I watched Klara turn the harpies to dust.

There haven’t been many monster attacks, below average by my estimate, but that’s likely influenced by both our presence and also the Cyclopses.

I hummed, making a note about the threat level of the harpies, not high, and a reminder to add it to our next report to Triton.

“Kai, did you finish our homework?” Klara called as she finished off the last harpy.

“Almost,” I said distractedly. “The science is, as usual, strange.”

She dropped next to me, her sword shrinking into a coral hair pin that she tucked into her hair as she watched Acantha check for spoils. Feathers are always useful for spells, and harpy feathers could help with enhancing winds.

“Land-dwellers have the weirdest science,” she grumbled. “They don’t even have magic.”

I snapped my notebook shut, sliding it away.

“Actually, I’ve done some research and found some magical communities. They call it witchcraft on land and there are a lot of different branches.”

She blinked, “Oh, really?”

“Most mortals don’t believe in it,” I said with a shrug. “But it seems fairly accurate. The mortals usually use it in conjuncture with acting on their own, more using it to improve their luck, or protect themselves, or other similar magics. Nothing flashy.”

“Huh, nice,” she mused.

“They have still continued divination though,” I said. “They use things called tarot cards for the most part. Rune stones, usually Norse, fire scrying, and other methods are also used, with Rune stones being the next most common.”

She nodded, looking thoughtful.

“Well that’s better than I thought.”

Acantha joined us, “I found a good number of feathers and some claws! Harpy claws have lots of disease usually, right?”

I nodded, “Very unsanitary in general.”

“Awesome! I’ll sell them when we get back to the ocean.”

“Normal split?” Klara asked.

“Yep!” Acantha said.

“Well, we’ve done good today. One more threat removed from Perseus-aia.”

I nodded, smiling faintly.

We got very lucky being assigned such a high ranking mission, I’m glad that we can protect the young prince. Triton-re’aia will hopefully be pleased.

After all, there’s very little that Klara can’t handle, and Klara and Acantha together are all but unstoppable.

Nothing will go wrong with us here to guard the prince.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.
> 
> What did you think of his lessons? Did his dreams mean anything to you? Did you enjoy the view from Kai?
> 
> ~~Halmaheran Words~~  
> Avero=Fuck  
> Areo=Shit  
> Kalmav=one of the undersea months- going from 22 of July to the 20 of August  
> Mairomav=one of the undersea months- going from the 20 of August to the 18 of September  
> Tapohu=Deep Dark Pit-Tartarus  
> Ponofa=cakes for full moons
> 
> ~~Suffixes~~  
> -aia=prince  
> -re'aia=high prince

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me, get sneak peaks of scenes, and help me plan on my discord!
> 
> https://discord.gg/6Pf8JgJ


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